The Writing on the Wall
by smiling inside
Summary: What at first appears to be some kind of sick joke soon escalates into something much more dangerous. Can Hermione work it out before the game becomes fatal? And does she want to? Because the evidence, all points to the boy she was just learning to trust.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is my newest fic, which I will be concentrating on over the summer holidays (which have for me just started!)**

**I have already written the first three chapters and will post one a week, whilst I write the rest of it. **

**I have rated this fic a 'T', however there is quite a bit of swearing in the first few chapters, but it will probably either die down soon, otherwise, i will increase the rating.**

**I would like to thank very much my friend 'encrypted pseudonym', my beta reader, who has been my extra inspiration, my walking dictionary and spelling checker. Could not have done it without you, you great great person!**

**Please review and give me any thoughts and comments as they are much appreciated. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

* * *

Draco Malfoy. Draco fucking Malfoy. The stupid, arrogant, self-absorbed bastard had gone to far this time. Too bloody far. Never in all her seventeen years of life had Hermione been as down-right furious as she was that second. Normally, she thought herself a pretty level-headed girl; she managed to keep her cool most of the time, and hid her anger reasonably well… well, not this time. Infact, presently, Hermione would have enjoyed nothing more than the corpse of Draco Malfoy laid before her, so she could spit on it. 

She stormed down the corridor furiously, her hands shaking with fury and her eyes, instead of their normal chocolate brown colour, seemed to be ablaze with fire. She marched down to the dungeons where the Slytherin common room was situated, ready to kick the shit out of that lame excuse of a human being, which went by the name of Malfoy. She spat out the password venomously and entered the Slytherin common room. Being head girl gave her such privileges (if you could call being in the Slytherin common room a privilege that is) as being able to enter the common room of any of the four houses. Usually, she would avoid doing so, but tonight, quite frankly, she couldn't give a fuck. She was too damn pissed off, and wanted to kill the little bastard, tear him apart limb from limb, hex him to oblivion, cut out his vital organs and shove them up his-

"Granger," drawled a smooth voice from behind her, "what a pleasant surprise".

She took a deep breath and turned around to face the blond boy, the anger unmistakable in her face; she glared at him, and yet managed to resist attacking him… '_Perhaps' _she thought to herself '_we can settle this in a civilized manner'._

He smirked down at her, clearly amused at the look of ferocity, which had nestled its way into her features, somewhat distorting them.

"Something the matter… you look a little _stressed out_?_" _he asked innocently.

'_Okay, fuck civilized!' _came that little voice from inside her head again.

She curled her fingers in to a fist visibly seething with anger. Taking a few quick strides forwards, until she was only a few inches away, she raised her arm and swung it forward with all her might. Her fist connected squarely with his jaw and he went reeling backwards eyes widening in shock.

"What the fuck did you do that for mudblood!" he spat, glaring at her with that signature Malfoy glare, that could make even the bravest of people cower before him; Hermione however went unaffected, infact, if anything, she just looked angrier than before – if of course that was even physically possible.

The other Slytherins seemed to be watching in a mixture of outrage, and perhaps mild amusement. None had even considered helping out the blond boy, for they knew he was too proud; it was common knowledge amongst Slytherins, that Draco Malfoy fought his own battles. No question about it. So instead they regarded the two students in silence.

"Don't think you'll get away with it Malfoy," she shouted, whipping her wand out and pointing it squarely at his chest in a threatening manner; "you think your so funny… well I'm not laughing you fucking arsehole!"

"Incase you hadn't notice," he snarled, "neither am I".

But Hermione continued as though she hadn't heard him, and perhaps she hadn't, "you think just because you're Head Boy you can abuse your power… well let me assure you, you are mistaken. Who do you think you are anyway? Despite what you may think you arrogant bastard, you are no better than me!" She paused for a second, taking a deep breath, and once more opening her mouth to continue; but he was too fast for her, in a second, his strong hand had pressed up against her mouth, leaving her unable to talk. With the other hand he pushed her hard against the wall, and in a deadly tone, began to speak.

"Listen to me you infuriating mudblood," he growled, "I don't know what exactly your bleating on about this time, and I don't know what the fuck I did to deserve that punch, but now I am going to give you two choices, either you piss off, or you calmly, and without fists tell me what your bloody problem is." He looked about ready to release her, however as an after thought added, "I may not believe in hitting girls Granger, but trust me, you're pushing it".

He was unable to tell what exactly it was which flashed through her eyes at that moment, but for a second, he could have sworn he saw fear in those large brown orbs of hers or perhaps it was surprise; either way, it was gone just as quickly as it had come, and her eyes were once more contorted with a burning rage which masked the usual beauty of the brown it had replaced. Her eyes flashed over to where she had previously punched him, and she was somewhat pleased to see a red mark marring his usually unblemished pale skin. After a brief pause, in which the Slytherin common room had fallen into complete silence, Draco took a step back, releasing the girl from his grasp.

The second her lips were free, she resumed her previous tirade, "My problem Malfoy, is that I thought that now you had become head boy, you would perhaps at least try to be civilized towards me-"

"Hey, it was you who came in here a few minutes ago fists flying and babbling like a madwoman, I think in comparison, I _am _the civilized one here" he reminded, however the girl continued right on, ignoring his comment.

"-I have feelings too you know Malfoy. Usually I ignore your comments, let them wash over me, but this time, you went too far! How do you think it felt walking into my dormitory to find it in that state?"

"What state?" he asked in a tired voice.

"Don't act all innocent Malfoy," she bit back, "I'm talking about the paint on the wall. What you think its funny defacing one of my bedroom walls with something like that! I can't even get it off with any spells".

Draco was now listening in much interest, "what did it say?" he asked casually.

"You know what it said you bastard, it said that I was a 'filthy mudblood'. Well let me tell you Draco, I will not stand for it I-"

"No Granger, as accurate as the phrase is and as entertaining as it would be to daub it on your walls to piss the hell out of you, I was not your culprit" he muttered, leaning against the same wall he had previously used to push the 'head girl' against.

"I knew you were a low down dirty scum of the earth but I never thought even you would sink so lo-" she trailed off and her eyes widened with realization as Draco's words penetrated through to her mind. She gaped at him for a few seconds mouth opening and shutting like a stranded fish before a small "Oh" escaped from her lips. For once she could think of no more to say.

The head boy lifted a blond eyebrow, "perhaps Granger, you should check, before you make such fast assumptions" he sneered.

The bushy haired Gryffindor blushed and looked up at Draco sheepishly. It was only then that she realized two things. Firstly she was in the middle of the Slytherin common room, and secondly, every single pair of eyes were upon her. She looked around the room nervously, and said in a quiet voice, "well I best be off then, erm, sorry about, you know… punching you" and without bothering to await a reply, scurried away as quickly as possible. It was only once she was safely away from the Slytherin common room that the girl let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding.

_Stupid. Stupid. Stupid._

She inwardly cursed herself as she practically sprinted back up to her room where the offending words had been scrawled. A red tinge had worked its way up her cheeks and the anger, which had been burning within her like a fire, now morphed into something closer to embarrassment. It was only once she had calmed down slightly that something occurred to her; if it hadn't been Draco who had defaced her wall with such cold words… then who had?

It made no sense, the only ones with access to the Gryffindor chambers, except for head boy, were of course the students of Gryffindor house, and the thought that any of them would do such a cruel thing was absolutely preposterous. Her eyebrows knitted together in concentration, and little crease lines appeared on top of her once perfectly smooth forehead, as she tried to solve the mystery.

She took a step into the 'head girl' bedroom, and glared at the red, which stained her wall. Her previously pale cream wall paper was ruined by the profanity that now covered a good portion of the wall and try as she might, even with her advanced knowledge of charms and her capacity as head girl, she was not able to remove it. She had tried every cleaning charm she could think of and even briefly tried scrubbing at it with a tissue in frustration, but to no avail, all she had managed to dowas slightly smudge the 'f' in 'filthy'.

She cursed aloud and sank down onto her bed trying to think clearly, yet failing miserably because she was distracted by the bright insulting words that seemed to taunt her. She had considered going to McGonagall, however decided against it… she didn't want to give the culprit any such satisfaction; and instead chose to do the one thing she was best at. Whenever Hermione Granger was confused or lost, she would turn to books, for the answers she was looking for, were almost always encased in one of the many volumes in the library; she felt confident that this time, would be no different. She stood up determinedly and left the room without a backwards glance; only pausing briefly once outside the door to check her wand was tucked safely in her pocket. She had almost made it to the portrait when a voice cut her short in her tracks,

"Hermione, wait up," called the Weasley boy, "are you going down to dinner?"

"No," she rushed, "to the library, I need to look something up".

"More homework?" he asked quirking a brow, "you realise it's Friday night… you have the whole weekend to work!"

"It's not work," the girl said nonchalantly, "I just need to look up a spell that I…err…" he eyes darted around nervously, as though looking for a suitable excuse, before finishing a little lamely, "… read about".

Hermione smiled briefly as she recognised the expression which had nestled its way unto the boys features… it was a look which clearly stated that he thought she had finally gone mad. "But… it's Friday!" he repeated, as though the extra study would be detrimental to her heath, on one such evening.

"I'll be quick," she promised, "you go with Harry, I'll meet you down there later okay" and, without bothering to await a reply, she fled through portrait and down the corridor; leaving behind a bemused looking Ron, who had resumed his muttering about working on a Friday night.

Upon walking through the doors of the library, Hermione automatically felt calmer, for the library was her sanctuary. It's where she went to escape the chaos and drama of everyday life; it was where she went when she needed answers, and it was where she went when she wanted to be alone. It just so happened, that on this particular occasion, the girl wanted all three of these things.

Having spent much of her last seven years at Hogwarts, scanning the shelves of this very library, she knew exactly where to look for 'cleaning charms' and strode over to the shelf purposefully; she ran her fingers gently over the spine of each volume until she stopped at the one she wanted; thus pulling it from the large bookcase and taking it to a small table at the back of the room, where she felt confident, she would not be disturbed.

Expertly, the girl flicked through the pages until she came to the one titled, _"advanced cleaning charms, section II"_ she skimmed the page silently, cursing aloud in irritation as her search so far, had been a futile one; the charms indicated in the book were of no use, she had tried them all already, advanced charms, a first year could do most of these! Climbing out of her chair and traipsing once again over to the shelf, she scanned it a second time for a book which could help her; this time, searching also for books, which may contain 'masking spells'. If the worse came to the worse, she could charm it invisible, until she was able to properly remove the words, which stained her wall.

Taking a deep breath, she once again began to wade through each page, slowly but surely making her way through the large pile of books, which were stacked neatly in the corner of the table.

Infact, she was so engrossed in her task she didn't hear the figure creeping up behind her as quietly as possible, not that is, until the said person began to speak. "I don't see why you're bothering to conceal the damn writing…I don't imagine you entertain any male guests in your room, so its not like any one will see it anyway" drawled a voice from behind her, a voice that could only belong to Draco Malfoy. Draco fucking Malfoy.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I would firstly like to thank everyone who has reviewed so far, (Jtfanaddict, w1cked angel, ebonyS2, Encrypted Pseudonym, MuggleNutter, YoMamaChamp, trapped-in-a-dream and KayeRyoko). Also, I would like to thank 'Encrypted Pseudonym' for all the help she has given me and for beta reading all of my chapters.**

**Before I post any chapters, I do read through them many times, checking for even the most minor errors, however I would like to apologise, for any mistakes in my chapters which I may have failed to notice, and thus have not corrected. **

**Also, I have been advised to increase the rating, and so, this fic will be classified as 'M'… just in case! **

**Chapter three has already been written, and will be posted in one week. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.**

* * *

Without even turning around, Hermione could tell that his face was plastered with one of those damn smirks of his. Bloody Slytherin. Choosing to ignore both his comment and his presence, the girl continued her search, seemingly oblivious of the growing anger and impatience of the blond boy. 

"It's okay," he drawled in his normal obnoxious manner "There's no use pretending, I know you can't resist me".

Sighing loudly, she marked her page and placing the book upside-down on the table, swivelled around in her seat to face the boy, "Haven't you got anything better to do," she bit back, "like upholding your name as Slytherin man whore".

"Honestly Granger, for someone who professes to be mature, you're pretty bloody childish if you ask me" he muttered.

Apparently, Hermione did not deem his comment important enough to grace with an answer and so neither students spoke; and the girl's mind began to wander back to her previous task, her fingers traced the book which lay on the desk, and she began to once again reach over for her quill.

"I have decided," Malfoy began to speak, in a smooth voice, "that it is my duty as head boy, to help those less fortunate than I," then, as an after thought, he added, "it has also come to my attention, that you definitely qualify as 'less fortunate'". He tried not to laugh out upon noticing the outrage, which contorted the girl's features; however, before she could shoot back a reply, he continued, "and, since you obviously can't get rid of that damn writing by yourself, I have decided to help". Of course, what he didn't say however, is that truth be told, he was just curious about the writing that had obviously broken Hermione's hard exterior shell, and caused her to almost kill him. He frowned. Not, that a _girl _would ever have anywhere near enough power or strength to kill him; especially not a mudblood one.

Stubborn as ever, Hermione was adamant she did not want any help, especially not from that Slytherin bastard, and so bluntly declined his offer, thus turning back to her book, and resuming her notes.

"Fine," he muttered, "It's not like I need your permission. In case you have forgotten, I am head boy, I can enter the Gryffindor chambers with or without you," and giving one last triumphant smirk, turned his back on the girl, and promptly left the library. It took her a moment to realise what he meant, and then, almost an instant later, she was sprinting after him, in attempt to prevent him from entering her private room.

"Malfoy, what do you think you are doing?" she shouted, as they approached the portrait of the fat lady.

He looked at her innocently, "helping" he reminded.

"I do _not_ need your help," then added, "you can't just barge in my room! I could have private things lying about… my underwear could be strewn around the place;" there was a brief moment of silence after this in which Hermione had the grace to blush, realising what she had just said.

"Yeah, right Granger," she snorted, "as if you would leave underwear lying around", then to the fat lady this time, he muttered, "firecracker". She gave him a dirty look, instantly recognising his green tie, as that of the Slytherin house, however, grudgingly swung open, giving him entry to the Gryffindor common room. Malfoy, going about his normal manner of things entered the common room a casual air about him, and a confidence in his stride, that would make it hard for one to believe he were entering the enemies lair. Just as Hermione, he had also refrained from entering the opposing house's common room; he was a smart boy, and knew that this was one place, where he was never welcome. Infact only on one previous occasion had he found the need to enter the Gryffindor common room, and did so only upon Dumbledore's orders, strictly on 'head boy' duties.

Perhaps it was great fortune on the boy's behalf that the common room happened to be almost empty at that particular time. A few second years occupied the chairs in the corner of the room, and upon noticing his presence, shot him a filthy look, but left it at that, knowing that their five-foot frame was no match to his.

Hermione scanned the room quickly, and gave a noticeable sigh of relief as it became apparent to her that Harry and Ron were not present. The last thing she needed was _another_ argument between her best friends, and the Slytherin idiot, who had somehow managed to get himself the position of 'head boy', something she often wondered if Dumbledore had decided upon, in a moment of sheer madness. Her thoughts however were cut off, as she noticed Draco was making his way to her room, walking casually down a little side passageway to where the 'head girl' room was situated. She inwardly cursed herself for not locking her door with some sort of intricate charm as he pushed down on the handle, thus allowing the large wooden door to swing open. Reflecting on this quickly, she then came to the conclusion that he was probably clever enough to break through any locking charm she would have used anyway. Damn him!

For a moment she stood motionless a flush rising up her cheeks, as she stared at the red writing, which defiantly screamed its message, clear for all to see. Or so she thought.

Draco frowned. He in turn studied each of the four walls, and finally turned back to the girl with an almost confused expression plastered across his face, ""Are you hallucinating Granger? Been taking any illegal substances?"

"What are you talking about Malfoy?" The girl sighed exasperatedly.

"The writing you firstly accused me of defacing your wall with, and in the process nearly hexed me... where is it?"

A look of uncertainty was followed rather quickly by anger, "are you mocking me Draco Malfoy?" she shouted, waving her hand in the direction of the stained wall, using his full name out of sheer anger "I bet this was part of your plan all along, you malicious prick".

"I don't know who you think you are you filthy mudblood," he sneered, "but you have no right to talk to a Malfoy like that. And as for this fucking writing you keep going on about, perhaps you're delirious, or perhaps you just have nothing better to do with your time then to make up stories in hopes of finally getting a bit of attention; either way, I don't give a damn, just keep me out of it next time".

Perhaps it was the look of genuine anger, which flashed in his eyes that caught her attention or perhaps it was the dangerous glare she was receiving from him, but either way, the girl –with a little effort on her behalf- managed to keep her fingers from forming a fist and once again connecting with his jaw, and instead, for a moment, tried to think rationally. It had occurred to her that perhaps he was telling the truth – something she was sure was rare for a Malfoy; and maybe, just maybe this sick joke, was not his doing. It did appear, that he could genuinely not see the writing. She was a smart girl, and upon entering the room, she had studied him. His eyes had skimmed her walls, and yet, not even for the briefest of seconds did they pause at the bold red words.

"You can't see it," she whispered finally having come to a conclusion on the matter; then, a look of almost excitement spread across her features, "it must have some sort of concealing charm placed upon it already so only I can read it," she gushed. He in turn looked uncertain, but she continued not noticing his unconvinced expression, "it's very clever if you think about it… no one else can see it, therefore the culprit cannot be punished with no available evidence, not to mention that getting rid of it will be near impossible". She pulled out her wand and pointed it to the stained wall determinedly, while Draco watched in a mixture of fascination and mild amusement.

"Induco" the girl muttered, placing the perfect amount of emphasis on each letter, thus causing a yellow burst of light to shoot out of her wand, however, to no avail, the writing marked the wall defiantly as ever. She frowned, trying to think of another spell that would erase the writing, "deliquesco" she tried. There was a brief pause in which nothing much happened; her want shot a red flash of light, but it did nothing to the writing. Not immediately anyway. As she was thinking what spell she could try next, the words suddenly burst into flames.

"Shit!" they both shouted simultaneously as the flames burned on the wall, and a thick choking smoke quickly filled the room. Draco, who was slightly calmer in moments of sheer panic reached for his wand, ready to extinguish the fire. This however turned out to be un-necessary as the flames died out by themselves, and, almost as quickly as it had appeared, the fire was gone again. The smoke however remained and the two coughed and spluttered until Draco managed to wrench open a window.

"Excellent work Granger," he drawled, his voice dripping with sarcasm, which she chose to ignore. It was in this moment, that Hermione noticed two things, firstly, the red writing had burned off from the flames; now instead the words were scorched into her wallpaper; and secondly, as it slowly became apparent to both the students, the 'concealing charm' had been removed.

He stared at the words, which had burned into her wall and gave out a low whistle, "I guess somebody doesn't like you," he shrugged, "but that's nothing I'm sure you didn't already know".

"Really, and all this time I thought it was a message of devotion and love" she snapped at him. Her mind was already consumed with thoughts on the best way to remove the now black marks from her wall.

"Well come on, you're bound to make some enemies, what with being a mudblood and all…" he trailed off upon noticing the look of absolute outrage which had settled on her features.

"You fucking arse! Being muggle-born doesn't make me lower than you! If you hadn't noticed I am head girl over the many purebloods in this school, I am just as clever as you and just as worthy of being a witch. Just because you have been indoctrinated from a young age to believe pureblood wizards are better, does not mean it's true. More fool you for believe every fucking word your father tells you".

"Piss off Granger, I'm not in the mood to listen to your virtuous shit," and with this, he turned around and strode towards the door, back straight and head held high. He paused for a second however and spun around to face the girl, a malicious grin beginning to twist his lips into a somewhat unnatural position, "I don't even see why you're bothering to try to remove the writing Granger. Any man you choose to bed should be given plenty of warning about the fact that you're a filthy mudblood whore. This is as good a way to tell them as any" he sneered looking from the girl to the writing, and then once more turning to leave. In a moment of sheer anger, Hermione grabbed the closest thing to her and threw it at the closing door; the glass smashed into thousands of little pieces, which fell onto the cream carpet.

She refused to cry. Pushing back the tears she sat on the end of her bed frustrated and tired. She would not let him get to her. Hermione was adamant to ignore the cheap jibes he threw at her. Draco Malfoy was not worth the effort and he was definitely not worth the tears. If anything, she decided, she should pity him. He may have money, but he would never have the things, which really mattered in life; he would never understand what true love was, for she doubted any one could love a cold-hearted bastard like him. Within the icy caverns of his heart, she doubted Draco had room for such 'menial' things as tenderness and love. Yes, she should pity him. He was after all destined to live a life following in his father's footsteps, becoming a death eater and being hated by more people than was normal for a human being. And so, she held back the liquid, which threatened to erupt from her eyes and instead she hoped and prayed that Draco Malfoy gets exactly what he deserves, and that one day, he would feel such intense pain and hurt, equivalent to all that, which he had caused.

There was a knock at her door.

"Hermione, are you okay?" asked the voice through the door, "I heard some shouting. Can I come in?"

"I'm fine Harry thanks. I'll be out in a minute, I'm just getting dressed" she lied. She wasn't quite sure why she didn't want to tell her friends the truth; but she told herself it was because she didn't want to upset them. Infact, as was more likely, Hermione was embarrassed and ashamed that someone hated her so much that they felt the need to write such a cruel message onto her wall. And she definitely didn't want to let them know Malfoy had upset her; because although she could deny it to herself, her friends would probably be able to see through her somewhat calm exterior façade.

She quickly changed into her Pajamas and pinned her 'head girl' badge onto the checked fabric of her nightwear before stepping into the Gryffindor common room where her friends were already waiting.

She forced herself to smile as she had learnt long ago that this was the best way to avoid being asked too many questions. Just seem happy. And that, is exactly what she did, she sat down in her normal seat in front of the fire and allowed the warmth of it to calm her down a little.

"Hey guys," she forced herself to sound cheerful.

"You missed dinner," Ron noted. He said it in a way that would make one believe, such a thing were a crime.

"Not hungry," she muttered, inwardly hoping that her stomach would comply and remain silent.

It was in this moment, when a fourth voice joined the conversation. It belonged to a rather scrawny first year who looked downright terrified at the thought of having to interrupt the trio of seventh years. Hermione gave him a smile of encouragement as he began to speak, "professor McGonagall wants to talk to you," he mumbled, voice shaking. The three students stood up immediately, "n…no" he stuttered, "just Hermione Granger".

Hermione nodded and thanked the boy; she waved goodbye to her friends and calmly stepped out of the portrait, however, inside she was somewhat frantic. All she could think was: _Shit, she knows!_ Perhaps she should have felt somewhat relieved and comforted by this thought, whoever had defaced her wall with such cold words, should after all be punished. However, it felt as though she had lost. Hermione was a stubborn girl, and she wanted to show whoever the culprit was, that she was not affected by the red paint; she wanted to show that she was above it all. Even if that wasn't strictly true.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: First of all, I would like to thank so much everyone who has reviewed this fic because… however sad this may sound… it brightens my mood whenever I receive a review, because its nice to know people are bothering to read what I am writing. So thanks ever so much to: Jtfanaddict, w1cked angel, Encrypted Pseudonym, guilty until proven** **innocent, sarah, lollylover, hotaru420, BoStOnChIcK, Ezmerelda and KayeRyoko.**

**Furthermore, I would like to thank 'Encrypted Pseudonym' for beta reading my chapters as well as being my walking/talking dictionary. **

**Also, I know that the next Harry Potter** **book is coming out, (unless I am mistaken) this Saturday, however, I will continue to write this fic as though it had not been released, and in effect nothing written in the newest book, will affect my story.**

**As promised, chapter four will be posted (touch wood) one week from today. **

**Disclaimer: As always, I do not own Harry Potter. **

* * *

Something was wrong. Having spent the last seven years with Harry Potter and Ron Weasley as her best friends, Hermione had acquired the ability of detecting trouble; and now, she was under the definite impression that something wasn't right. Not right at all. 

McGonagall, had her usual stern expression in place, and she regarded Hermione in a somewhat weary manner. The woman motioned for the 'head girl' to sit down, whilst she in turn began pacing the room. As always, when she was nervous, Hermione started chewing on her lower lip, whilst she waited for the professor to begin the lecture, which the girl had been awaiting.

"I have had a serious complaint about you Miss Granger. Such complaints can be damaging to your position as head" the older woman began and with each word, Hermione looked just that little bit more panicked. "What on earth drove you to it?" she demanded.

"Drove me to what Professor?" the girl asked in genuine confusion.

"Attacking Draco Malfoy, in his own common room no less! This behavior is just not acceptable Miss Granger, and I would have expected more from you".

Hermione was of course speechless. She should have know this was all down to that good for nothing underhanded sneaky son of a bitch! That bastard had ratted her out, to her own head of house no less! She should have known he would do something like this, what was she supposed to say without McGonagall finding out about the writing?

"Erm…" she began, trying to think of a suitable excuse, and fast, "temporary moment of insanity," she said in an almost hopeful tone of voice; wishing the teacher would leave it at that.

"This is no time for jokes Hermione," she muttered, "I am sorry, but if you cannot come up with a sufficient reason for your behaviour, I will have to seriously reconsider your role as head girl," the teacher said in a grave tone that gave no room to doubt that she meant what she said, "from the sound of it, Mr Malfoy took a blow to the head and could have been severely injured".

As Hermione opened her mouth to lay down another lie, the door barged open and a haggard looking Draco stumbled in, panting, apparently having run all the way from the Slytherin quarters. He gave a small nod in the direction of the two women, in the form of some sort of greeting, before getting directly to the point, "Professor you've got it all wrong…nobody attacked me!"

The woman nodded curtly, "then you wouldn't mind explaining to me how you acquired that bruise".

The boy looked sheepish, but before he could open him mouth to speak, Hermione cut in, "What are you doing you Slytherin bastard? What did you think it would be funny to get me in trouble… and you had the cheek to talk to me about maturity!"

"But I di-" he began, however was cut off mid sentence by some more shouting, compliments of the bushy haired Gryffindor.

"No don't even try to defend yourself. What you did was low, even for you. Do you realize I could loose my position as head girl you smug git!"

Draco opened his mouth, no doubt to mutter some sort of curse or insult in her direction, however McGonagall, who apparently both the students had forgotten about, cut him off. "Enough!" she growled, "both of you stop this at once!"

And then there was silence. The woman took a moment to re-compose herself before one again speaking in her usual strict manner, "never in the history of Hogwarts have I been more ashamed of the two head students! What kind of example are you setting to your peers?" She looked at each of the students in turn, in such a way that they couldn't help but feel just the slightest bit of shame. "Now I realize it is too much to ask that you two become the best of friends," she continued, "but as head boy and girl, I must urge the importance of remaining somewhat civil towards each other, if not when you are alone, then at least in the presence of others. Otherwise I will be forced to reconsider the suitability of both your positions, do I make myself clear?" She demanded.

Both nodded, but neither said a word; they didn't dare.

"As for this incident, I'm not exactly sure what happened, but I feel the need to punish you _both_ for your apparent immaturity, and lack of self control. Two qualities, which are not acceptable to Hogwarts top students. You will both serve three days detention… and be grateful I am not taking this further". With this she walked them to the door, and added "You will meet me here tomorrow at seven o'clock, where I shall inform you of what you will be doing," with this she nudged them out of the doorway and shut the door, leaving the two students alone in the corridor.

"Nice pajamas Granger, very... sexy" he drawled in his normal portentous manner as they began to walk away from the teachers office.

"Not looking too bad yourself Malfoy, for a guy with a pole up his arse," she muttered back; she had been growing increasingly irate with the blond boy, and didn't bother to hide this in the way she spoke. Not to mention that she had not yet forgiven the git for what he had said to her earlier.

"Oh, and for the record Granger," the head boy muttered in all seriousness, "It wasn't me who told her".

She glanced at him, unsure weather to believe this or not, after all, in the seven years they had known each other, he had been open about his hate towards her. For some reason however, she was almost sure he were telling the truth. Almost.

"You were very quick to accuse me in there," he muttered, "falsely I might add".

"Well, it's not like you gave me any reason to believe otherwise," she quipped; clearly having forgotten that he had come to help her out of trouble, and had gotten himself detention in the process. Draco opened his mouth to say this aloud, however changed his mind, and, muttering a quick goodnight, walked off in the opposite direction, taking the long way back to the Slytherin common room, wanting, for the first time in a long time, to avoid confrontation.

Hermionein turn continued walking to the Gryffindor common room, for the first time realising just how tired she was. Being head girl was harder than most people assumed not to mention the workload must have tripled this last year. She had quite been looking forward to lazing around this weekend, something which was, admittedly, very un-Hermione. She did however feel this weekend should be an exception; after all, many were the nights where she went without sleep in order to complete all of her homework assignments. An achievement she had, at the time, felt exceedingly proud of. However, the thought of having a detention every night for the next three days was nothing less than a nightmare to the sleep-deprived girl.

Sighing heavily at the mere thought of this, the girl trudged the rest of the way to the Gryffindor chambers, and upon reaching her room, collapsed heavily on the bed, falling asleep almost the instant her head hit the silky cream pillow. Whilst she slept, the stars outside shone bright, and the moon, a crescent, contrasted boldly with the dark sky; a picture the girl would often stay awake just to observe in admiration and awe whilst wondering how something could be so beautiful.

Tonight however, was not one of those nights.

She did not wake until late into the next day, Saturday and the sky outside was filled with pregnant clouds, threatening to burst any moment, and release their liquid onto earth. The girl managed to crawl out of bed and stumble into the shower, in a half-hearted effort of making herself look somewhat presentable. She pulled her hair into a loose bun, slipped into some clean clothes and decidedly ambled towards the door, with a sudden urge to go for a walk before her afternoon detention. Looking down at her watch, she figured she had about two hours to kill before she had to make her way down to McGonagall's office, and with no specific place to go, the girl let her feet guide her. It wasn't until she was out in the open air that a calm feeling engulfed her, causing her to smile, the previous day's events, momentarily forgotten.

The sky was dark covered by clouds and mist; the sun was preparing to set. Hermione watched in fascination as the ball of fire dipped behind the horizon. The grey of the clouds looked almost picturesque as they mixed with the pink of the setting sun and a calm aura settled upon the grounds of Hogwarts, and yet, the dusk seemed to cause an intangible pall over the face of things. The girl sighed somewhat happily, enjoying the feeling of cold air blowing through her hair. She walked further from the building, not overly analysing her footsteps and she paid little attention to where they were taking her.

For a while she walked the grounds of Hogwarts enjoying her current solitary state for it gave her time to think. And yet, as she leisurely strolled around the great castle, she felt that something wasn't quite right; something she could not put her finger on. However, instead of listening to her instincts, the girl consoled herself and even inwardly chided herself for allowing such silly thoughts and in the process, frightening herself. Thoughts of something or someone evil lurking close by. Thoughts, that she was being watched. And perhaps she succeeded in fooling herself that everything was fine, yet still, subconsciously she began walking just that little bit faster, wanting to get back inside the castle… now.

When she first heard the footsteps behind her, she told herself she was imagining things. When she saw a shadow on the ground, next to that of hers, she hoped it was a trick of the light. When she felt a hand grip her round the middle, and another slide over her lips she prayed that this was all a horrible dream; this was one prayer however, which could not be answered.

The masked figure held her tight and pulled her backwards towards the endless darkness of the forbidden forest. She struggled, but to no avail, the hands which gripped her, were far too strong and didn't loosen in the slightest as she battled against them. Either way, she refused to give up and continued to incessantly fight against the dark figure, yet, this only caused him to tighten his grip and growl in frustration. As they entered the forest, he pushed the girl hard against one of the trees, forcing a pained moan from Hermione as she staggered slightly trying to regain her balance. Thinking fast the bushy haired Gryffindor slowly reached into her pocket for her wand.

"Looking for this?" the hooded figure snarled, casually waving the girls wand, before expertly snapping it in half, the girl's eyes widened in a mixture of shock and horror, and she found herself unable to stop the gasp which escaped her lips as if the break had caused her physical pain. He dropped the broken wand to the ground and took a step forward, careful to keep his hood low enough to cover his features, and carelessly grabbed a handful of her long hair, twisting it round his fingers and pulling it hard. He laughed as the girl cried out in pain, and dragged her closer to him.

Hermione tugged against her captor trying to ignore the sharp pain in her scalp. Finally the masked male let go only to grab both her shoulders and hiss in her ear "Stop trying to resist me," a fleck of spit hit her ear and she shuddered. Without warning he started to shake her violently. Her head snapped back and connected with the tree behind her. Hermione let out a small cry as she lifted her hand to her scalp, thankful that no blood had been drawn, and at the same time terrified.

He read the trepidation in her eyes immediately and leaned forward to whisper into her ear, "you are right to fear me mudblood… I could do much worse things to you" he closed the distance between them, until his face was only an inch from hers. His nostrils dilated as if smelling her palpable fear and his tongue darted from between dry chapped lips and trailed slowly up her cheek, leaving a wet trail of saliva upon her soft skin. The girl trembled ever so slightly, and yet, despite her fear, she was resistant to his threat and tried one more time to break free from his grasp.

"Not so fast," the voice snarled, "I'm not quite finished with you," he took an audacious step forward, grabbing the girl once more by the back of her robes, and pulled her down onto the floor of the forbidden forest. She lay there for a moment, not yet daring to move, as he placed one of his black boots on her stomach.

"Get off me you bastard," she hissed with as much indignation as she could muster.

"Feisty little thing aren't you?" he drawled, exerting more of his weight upon her. "How did you like the little present I left for you?" The girl's eyes clouded with confusion for a moment, before widening in realization… _the writing!_ She said nothing however, and her lack of reaction further angered the hooded figure, "you're disgusting," he spat, glaring down at the girl through his hood.

In a moment of sheer panic, the girl clawed at the flesh of his leg with her nails, causing him to momentarily release her, as a stinging pain made its way up his calf, a few drops of blood escaping the wound. Hermione took this as her chance of escape, and leapt up, preparing to run in the opposite direction. Seeming almost crazy with rage, the figure grabbed hold of her wrist as she turned to flee and pulled her towards him, grasping her throat with his free hand. "I could kill you right now," he growled tightening his grip, "and don't think otherwise". The girl struggled to breath and her eyes widened in panic. "I _could_ kill you now, but where's the fun in that?" the figure continued, "I think I'll enjoy playing with you first" and with this, he flung her to the ground and took a step back.

Too afraid to react any other way, Hermione bolted, only stopping for the briefest of seconds to pick up the two broken pieces of wand, which lay on the floor before using all the energy she could muster to run back to Hogwarts castle, not stopping until she had reached the large mahogany doors. Perhaps it was her imagination playing tricks on her, but she could have sworn she heard cold laughter resounding behind her, as she ran from the forest.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I would first of all like to apologise for my lack of updates. I am SO SO SO sorry however I went on a last minute holiday with no access to computers or the Internet –GASP- yes imagine the horror! **

**Also I would like to thank so much my reviewers: guilty until proven innocent, Encrypted Pseudonym, BoStOnChIcK, Jtfanaddict, hotaru420, xXWitchXx, omnipotent otaku and ebonyS2. Also many thanks to my great great beta reader who helps me with just about everything. **

**Hopefully I will be able to post the next chapter in one week time, however, because I will be working seven days a week for the next few weeks, finding time to post will be difficult, however I promise to try my best to find time. **

**Also, I would like to once again remind anyone who may be reading this, that most of this fic had been written before I began posting, and before the sixth Harry Potter book came out, and so any events which may have taken place in the book, will not be as so in this fic. **

**Please review and tell me what you all think!**

**Disclaimer: Not mine, bla bla…. Onwards…!**

* * *

Panic. Sheer panic. Her breath hitched in her throat as she fought to control the hysterics that were threatening to overwhelm her. She stumbled into the entrance of the castle and struggled for a moment to close the heavy mahogany doors. Finally she collapsed against them, her heart fluttering erratically in her chest, twice its normal speed. Her mind was racing with thoughts… such horrible thoughts… what he could have done to her. She shivered and allowed herself to sink to the floor, having apparently lost the strength to stand. 

She carefully lifted one of her pale hands up for inspection, only to find it quivering uncontrollably; the tears came shortly after that. Not tears of fear, not even tears of anger, but tears of relief. She buried her face into her robes, as though seeking comfort in the soft material, and allowed a few silent tears to stream down her face, and be soaked up by the black cotton.

It took a while for the immediate shock to wear away, however when it did, two new feelings resided in Hermione, fear and suspicion.

Fear that infact, the worst was still to come and that the encounter in the forest had been merely a game, a sick game, to both scare her and a let her know that this was merely the beginning.

And suspicion, the culprit, whoever he was, made his hate and disgust of the girl clear, and of course the part which confused her the most… he had access to the Griffindor chambers which would logically make him either a member of the Gryffindor house, or…

A tall figure stepped in front of her looking at her oddly through his large grey orbs, "Granger…?" he asked uncertainly. Recognising the voice immediately as that of the Slytherin Prince, the girl immediately recoiled moving as far away from him as possible.

"You're crying," he noted, in a voice, which lacked any kind of emotion.

Using all her energy, the girl picked herself up and stumbled in the opposite direction, however he was too fast for her, and in a second, was by her side once more, "Stay away from me!" she cried somewhat hysterically, and waved a piece of broken wand in the air. Draco raised an almost silver eyebrow, but said nothing.

It made perfect sense. He hated her; this was no great secret. He thought her unworthy of being a witch and took every chance to sneer at her muggle upbringing. Furthermore, he had access to the Gryffindor chambers. In Hermione's mind, all evidence pointed to Draco Malfoy, and she had no reason, no reason what so ever to believe otherwise.

Turning around, she walked away from him, and he considered letting her go, but there was something about the way she looked at him… a look of both fear and disgust… that made him want to find out what was wrong. When it came to Draco, the girl felt many things…and to be honest, most of them were bad, but never had she looked at him with fear, and it was this more than anything, which sparked his curiosity. At the last minute he caught the sleeve of her robes, and spun her round, looking down into her eyes, which had been slightly reddened from the crying.

"Get off me!" she growled, banging her fists against his chest.

For reasons unknown to him, Draco was torn. Torn between pushing her away and pulling her closer. In the end, he chose the former of the two. "Get yourself cleaned up Mudblood," he sneered, as was custom around the girl, "you look like shit, and we have detention in half an hour," and without a backwards glance strode to the staircase, and soon disappeared from sight.

Questions. Thousands of them, going through her mind, each as unanswerable as the last. Was it really Malfoy… and if it wasn't, then who else could hate her that much? She tried to think back, where had he come from as she sat huddled on the floor? Should she tell a teacher? But what evidence did she have? Did she really want to go down the meandering road of self-doubt?

And then silence.

She attempted to block out all thoughts from her mind and forced herself to place one foot in front of the other, and make her way to the Gryffindor chambers where she could collect herself before attending detention. By the time she reached the portrait of the 'fat lady' Hermione had decided to keep the incidents to herself, no one need know just yet. Firstly, evidence on either incident was minimal, and secondly, alerting teachers would be a sign of weakness, something the girl was not yet willing to give. However, there was another reason, one that perhaps even she was not quite ready to admit to herself, but it was a reason non-the-less, on a subconscious level… she was embarrassed. Embarrassed and ashamed of being herself. She had always been a proud girl, and seldom let others' hate penetrate her heart, however this time the words had stung, undeniably so, and a part of her wished, that she were not a muggle born.

Not a _mudblood_.

A half hour later, as she reluctantly entered McGonagall's office, the girl fought an internal battle, in an attempt of pushing any remaining uncertainties to the back of her mind. Merlin she tried. She could ponder on her worries later, she told herself fiercely, right now; she had a detention to serve. However, what she didn't count on, was how hard having to spend the time with the very boy she was desperately trying to avoid, could be. Every so often, her eyes would unwillingly wonder over to the blond boy standing next to her, and her body would give an involuntary shudder as her mind screamed: _'it was him… it has to be him!'_

Her thoughts however were cut short, as McGonagall addressed them directly and immediately, "tonight you will be helping Mr Filch; he will set you jobs he sees fit," she paused, and then added as an afterthought, "I would like you to think carefully as to _why _you are both serving detention tonight, and perhaps in the future try to eradicate such behaviour, as I have previously mentioned, it is unacceptable for two such students as yourselves". And with this she dismissed them, merely giving them instructions to wait for the caretaker at the entrance hall.

And so they waited. Draco studied her in a mixture of fascination and disgust (she was after all a mudblood). He recalled the way she had looked at him a short half hour ago; her eyes were like the windows to her soul, but the emotions he saw in them were so complex, he could not begin to fathom what had happened to make her so distressed. However, there was one thing he was almost certain he had seen in those dark, haunted orbs of hers… fear. He recalled how such a short time ago, he had found her so distraught at this very same entrance. Hermione Granger, the one girl he was sure would not break so easily, had been in tears, and he wanted to know why. For curiosities sake of course. Malfoy's face twisted into a grimace. While it was refreshing to see anything other than hate displayed on Hermione's face when she saw him, he did not want her to fear him.

Filch, apparently not one to bother with formalities, marched up to the students and muttered "follow me," before turning to walk in the opposite direction; he didn't so much as turn to check they were following him. The caretaker held a lantern in one hand, and used the small light to lead the two students down a narrow, almost deserted corridor. Two red buckets filled with water were up against one of the walls, filch pointed to them somewhat delightedly. "Never had to give head boy and girl detention before," he said almost conversationally whilst shaking his head and not bothering to hide his glee. He walked them a little further down and stopped in front of two large doors. "Toilets are due for a clean," he smiled sadistically and pointed in the direction of the two buckets, "I want the floors and walls sparkling… no magic is to be used whatsoever… have fun," and with this, walked off, followed closely by his damned cat. Almost as an after thought, he added, "I'll be back in two hours to inspect," and with this, turned once more, and left.

Draco looked around wildly in a mixture of disgust and disbelief, "he was being serious? That bastard… that absolute fucking bastard!" he seethed.

"Malfoy, this is detention," the head girl growled, "you're not meant to enjoy it," And with this, grabbed one of the red buckets, and entered the girls' toilets.

After a minute or so, the door swung open once more, and Hermione had never before thought it possible to make a dramatic entrance whilst lugging a bucket of soapy water. The blond boy practically snarled, and sponge in one hand, bucket in other he began to clean in turn each of the sinks, in a sort of resigned silence. Hermione looked up at him for a moment, unsure of what to make of this… after all, it's not everyday you get to see a Malfoy doing such tasks as washing the toilets.

Time passed slowly, minutes seemed to take forever to pass and soon, the silence, which had been cast over them, was broken.

Hermione, had finally become frustrated with the frizzy wisps of hair, which had stubbornly escaped from the bun she had haphazardly tied the curly locks into. She sighed exasperatedly and retrieved a clip from the depth of her pocket, before sweeping the unruly strands from across her forehead and securing them in place.

"Shit Granger," the boy muttered, and his voice, which over the years had been honed to perfection to never give away the emotional state of the blond boy, shook ever so slightly. She looked up, unsure of his decision to break the previous mutual, yet unspoken agreement on silence. "What happened to you face?"

She growled, and threw her sponge into the soapy bucket of water causing a slight splash; she sick and tired of his cheap jabs at her, "what is your problem Malfoy? Don't you have anything better to do than insult me? Are you that much of a bastard that you would rather-"

"No, Granger, seriously, look in the mirror," he smirked, apparently amused by her reaction.

She walked almost reluctantly to one of the large mirrors; it took only a few seconds of inspecting her face to notice the large gash above her left eye… no doubt an injury she had received during the attack. She shivered, the dark masked figure coming back to mind. The girl traced the cut with one of her fingers; dried blood had crusted around it, forming a scab and, winced slightly at the contact.

"How did it happen?" he asked, dropping his sponge, the work at the sink momentarily forgotten.

She didn't reply immediately, instead her inner voice screamed at her _'he knows… he's just playing you… he has to know!'_ She said none of this aloud however, instead, she gave a shrug and muttered as nonchalantly as she could manage, "don't know, I must have scratched myself".

He quirked a brow, "you _scratched_ yourself? What and didn't realise you tore out a great lump of your own skin?" his voice ridiculed her, while his eyes studies her with intense curiosity.

"Why the fuck do you care Malfoy? It's got nothing to do with you," she muttered, avoiding any eye contact and once more dipping her sponge into the bucket.

"As head boy..."

"Not that shit again," she cut in, the blond boy opened his mouth to continue but Hermione interrupted him once more, "no wait, let me guess, as head boy, you have taken it upon yourself to avoid responsibility and in the process exploit your privileges whenever it suits you. Having the status of 'head boy' does not give you the right to interfere in other people's lives." Draco could tell by the way her voice trembled ever so slightly as she spoke, that the girl was growing increasingly irate with his interfering; and yet, it was the way her hands quivered that made him believe there was more to it.

he was silent for a brief moment, his mind working hard to come back with an equally cutting reply, however before he managed to do so a thought struck him, "Did Potter or Weasley do it to you and you're just trying to protect them?"

The girl gasped at his words, clearly shocked that he would even think such a thing, "They would never do anything to hurt me," and then just for emphasis she repeated, "never".

"This has something to do with earlier on doesn't it," he muttered, realisation having struck, "in the entrance hall, you were cry-" he trailed off, "you were upset. What happened Granger? Were you attacked?"

She refused to tell him, he was a Slytherin! Not just any Slytherin, but Draco Malfoy, he was a cold hearted bastard always has been always will be. She didn't care what act he was putting on, she knew deep down, that if he knew, he would do what he always did, laugh at her, taunt her, try and find ways to hurt her… it was after all what Malfoy did best. Shooting him a poisonous glare, she growled, "It was nothing, just leave me alone!"

"Fine Granger," he sighed and looked disdainful, "and you're right, it's not like I give a fuck anyway".

And then there was silence.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: First of all I would like to thank my reviewers: w1cked angel, omnipotent otaku, seghen, guilty until proven innocent, Marie Terensky, hotaru420, Jtfanaddict, Lucifer's Lair, the girl trapped in a dream and also to my beta reader Encrypted Pseudonym. Thank you so much, you great great person! I don't know what I would do without you helping me out with each chapter!**

**I would of course like to apologise for the amount of time it took me to post this chapter, on the one hand I feel guilty, and on the other I feel like I had no choice, as I have been busy with sixth form and work. I will try and get the next chapter up as soon as it is possible.**

**I would also like to once more point out that this fic' is set BEFORE the sixth book!**

**Please review and give me any thoughts and comments as they are much appreciated.**

**Disclaimer: "I don't own Harry Potter…"**

* * *

It was raining again; a thick mist had filled the air and the cold could only be described as bitter. If the weather could be a portrayal of one's mood, it would have been the perfect reflection of a certain Gryffindor girl's. Hermione sat alone in the common room, and no one dared approach her, for she appeared to be in a state of perpetual gloominess, and that, was never a good thing. The anger radiated off her like heat from a fire, and yet this was only one of the many emotions, which were portrayed in her eyes. For in those chocolaty brown orbs, it was clear to anyone who knew her that Hermione Granger was in pain. Not exactly physical pain, but something deep down within her… a feeling she could neither extinguish nor hide. 

It was as though her life was falling apart, and no matter what she did, or how hard she tried there was no way she could put it back together again. Hermione was not the sort of girl who enjoyed wallowing in self-pity and yet it was as though she were in a dream almost, and she could not move or speak, and the only thing going through her mind was how _wrong_ everything was. Her usually audacious personality seemed to have abandoned her, and all that remained was a girl. A girl who was scared. Scared at the thought of what had happened. Scared that Malfoy was likely to be the one behind this. Even more scared, of what it would mean if Malfoy were not the one responsible.

A frown furrowed her features as thoughts of the Slytherin Prince clouded her mind. He was a bastard. A selfish, hurtful, arrogant bastard, and it would make perfect sense that he be the one trying to scare her. Of course she hadn't fallen for his act, and not for one second did she let herself be fooled into believing that he cared about her well being in any way; and yet for reasons unknown to herself, Hermione believed that the blond boy were not responsible for her misery. At least not _all_ of it. Over the years he had caused her much pain… the name calling, the insults, the dirty looks… and no doubt he would continue to do so, but she did not believe it was Draco who had attacked her in the forest.

It wasn't until much later in the day, until a muddy and wet two-some walked through the portrait infact, that anyone dared approached her. Harry and Ron swapped worried looks and edged closer to the large chair, which held their best friend. Neither had failed to notice the distant look on her face… or the fact that she hadn't moved in the better part of the day.

"Hermione…" Harry whispered as gently as he could manage, placing a gloved hand on top of hers.

Although Hermione had not moved at all as the dark haired boy spoke her name she flinched at the touch. Her head shot up a look of wild-eyed fear on her face.

"What's wrong with you today?" muttered Ron after seeing this reaction, "Did that Slytherin git do something to youin detention last night? Because if he did I'll…" he trailed off using a violent hand gesture to explain himself.

Hermione forced herself to roll her eyes and slump her shoulders slightly, releasing herself from the previously rigid position, and in a voice, which was as casual as possible, if not a notch too high she mumbled a quick, "I'm fine, it's nothing" then as an afterthought she added, "Ron stop looking for excuses to beat up Malfoy".

"What's on your mind Hermione," Harry tried again shooting Ron a look, warning him to remain silent, "we're your friends, you can tell us anything". Both boys turned to face their friend with concerned eyes.

"For Merlin's sake you two, stop looking at me like that! I am fine so just leave me alone… is it so much to ask that I sit down for a few minutes and have some time to myself?"

"God, PMS!" Ron muttered angrily, before storming off up to the boy's dormitories; Harry followed him, shooting Hermione an apologetic look.

And so, the girl remained in one such state for the better part of the day, and wasn't until a while later that someone managed to rouse her from her stupor.

It was of course by this time common knowledge amongst the Gryffindor clan that disturbing the 'Head girl' whilst she was preoccupied was never a good idea… to say the least, and so as the terrified looking second year walked up to her, his little hands trembled and his cheeks turned a little pinker than was normal for his tanned complexion. His voice was unusually deep for someone so little, and this only served to emphasise how much it was shaking as he began to speak, "Uh... miss granger!" this instantly got the girls attention, and yet it was clear that Hermione was still preoccupied with so many things flying through her mind, as she doesn't even bother to correct the poor boy by saying kindly "It's Hermione dear" as was routine for her.

The boy held out a slightly trembling hand and gave Hermione a somewhat creased note which she took without a thank-you, and the boy, considering himself dismissed scurried off, allowing the girl to read the message in private. It was palpable enough, and in so many words indicated that detention was to be rescheduled and instead Hermione and Draco were to have a meeting with the prefects after dinner.

With a little yelp Hermione rushed to her room in search of her robes and a hairbrush, as she had a total of about three minutes before she was due to meet with the others, and as Head girl it would just not do to be late.

Hermione pulled the slightly rumpled robes over her head and checked her watch again. She decided to forgo brushing her hair altogether and threw the brush onto her bed before darting from the room. The meeting was to be held in a small classroom near the astronomy tower where Hermione had long ago decided would be a place with least interruptions and distractions, however as she ran through the corridors of Hogwarts castle in a somewhat futile attempt of not being late, she inwardly cursed that she hadn't picked a more convenient spot.

As she practically fell through the already open door the prefects were silenced and instead they watched in mild amusement as the Head girl apologised for her tardiness, and once catching her breath pulled Draco into a far corner and began whispering furiously.

"Okay Malfoy why are we here? Our meeting was not meant to be until Friday.

"Well I don't know about you Granger but I didn't particularly feel like cleaning toilets again," came back the oh-so-casual reply.

"You mean…" her eyes widened slightly, "But…"

"You know what your problem is Granger?" he boy stated matter of factly "you worry too much," and with this turned his attention to the group of prefects and began to address them, Hermione in the meantime avoided any eye contact with an annoyed looking Ron who sat at the back of the room, his ears putting his hair color to shame. The head girl smiled, noticing instantly this tale-tale sign that the coppery haired boy was still angry at her shortness with him earlier. Sighing, she tried to pay attention to what Malfoy was talking about; after all she was meant to be the responsible one here.

"It's not fair!" squeaked a pretty sixth year girl; "I always end up patrolling the corridors on a Friday night".

"Fine," Malfoy ran one of his hands through his perfect blond locks, "swap with Laura".

"It's Lauren," a tanned girl replied, the indignation clear in her voice, "and what makes you think I want to be on Friday night patrol?"

Malfoy looked around the room, inwardly hoping someone would volunteer for the position and yet knowing such hopes were futile. He looked pained and for a moment it appeared as though he were about to volunteer himself for the Friday night patrol. "Fine" he said with a long-suffering sigh, "I supposed Granger'll have to do it."

For the first time that evening Hermione's head shot up and she gave her full attention to Malfoy. Draco noticed this instantly, and chose to play on her sudden flare of emotion before it once again faded away, for some reason, he felt more comfortable when they were arguing, as opposed to the girl sitting in almost complete silence, and so he continued speaking, hoping to rouse her from her thoughts, "I mean, it's not like she has anything better do to on a Friday nights".

"I can't" protested the girl, "My Fridays are full!"

"With what… homework?" smirked the boy as they dipped into another of their petty feuds… back into safe territory; anger he was used to, he could handle it.

"Its none of your business what I get up to Malfoy?" she fumed.

"Get up to?" he mocked, "you say that so convincingly Granger… and yet I doubt your Friday nights beholds anything more interesting than charming a few SPEW badges to change color".

His comment stung, but she hid it well and instead shot the boy a poisonous glare and muttered something incomprehensible under her breath.

Draco gave a small grin of satisfaction, "I thought so Granger," he smirked, referring back to his previous comment, "and you're still down for Fridays".

"Sod off Malfoy" Ron jumped up angrily in order to defend Hermione, "she said she can't do patrolling on Friday".

Draco, knowing just what to say to annoy theginger haired boy turned to him, "Isn't that cute… Weasel jumping up to defend his girl. Is that why you can't do Friday's Granger?"

Knowing what was to come, the Head Girl placed herself in between the two boys, while the rest of the Prefects watched on in a mixture of amusement and excitement. "Punch him!" Shouted a scrawny boy from the back of the room, not exactly sure weather his comment was aimed at Ron or Malfoy, but either way keenly aroused by the prospect of a punch up. Ron, needing no further encouragement, skirted around his friend and practically jumped Malfoy, his fist connecting with skin and receiving a much satisfying pained moan from the lips of the enemy.

"Ron!" Hermione almost screamed, getting his attention instantly, "stop it!" She looked around the class addressing the rest of the students; "I'll send you all your adapted schedules by owl. You can go now," and without a moments hesitation she ushered the prefects out; which admittedly took much longer than she would have liked, as each seemed insistent on slowing down as they passed the head boy, who still remained sprawled on the floor, to see if they could detect any blood. "You too Ron," she muttered, "I need to have a word with Malfoy," she spat the last few words with venom directed at the blond Slytherin.

"Lucky me," he grinned winking at Ron and it was all Hermione could do to push her friend out of the room without him jumping the idiot of a 'head boy' once more.

Sighing, as though this whole situation tired her greatly, Hermione turned to face Malfoy, who was now propped on the edge of a desk, cursing quietly about the red-haired boy and rubbing his jaw where he had been punched.

"What is your problem Malfoy?" she growled, "why must you insist on showing me up all the time?"

"I don't know Granger, maybe all this aggression I feel towards you is actually masking the fact that I desperately want to throw you onto this desk and ravish you".

"I give up with you," she moaned exasperatedly, "I'm going to bed," and turned to leave, but before she could make it to the door the boy leapt up from where he was sitting and intercepted her path; the anger in his eyes apparent.

"What is wrong with you?" he muttered, resisting the urge to take her by the shoulders and shake her, "snap out of it!"

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about you… walking around looking like the world's about to end! I mean you got bloody detention… its not like it's going to go on your permanent record!" She looked at him, the confusion in her eyes apparent, and he noted this down immediately, "or maybe, the reason you are walking around looking like the living dead is because something really did happen to you yesterday". He raised a brow expectantly.

The girl was here forth unable to control the tale-tell blush which worked its way up her cheeks, once more arousing the boy's curiosity. He looked down at her encouragingly, for some reasons unknown to him, urgently wanting to know her thoughts; and as Hermione looked up into those gray orbs of his, she felt like in that second she could tell him everything. She knew he was her enemy. She knew that the boy who stood before her took such pleasure from her pain, and yet in that second, as they stood so close, she felt so safe.

Just for a second.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I would just like to thank the people who have reviewed my last chapter because it's nice to get some feed back and to actually know that someone is interested in what I am writing.**

**Anyways so thanks to: Encrypted Pseudonym, Lucifer's Lair, KayeRyoko, guilty until proven innocent, cheeze, w1cked angel, w1cked angel, omnipotent otaku and lunlunmon.**

**I know I have not updated in a very long time just because I have been so busy with everything but I would really like to continue if people are still interested. I know this chapter is very short but I thought I would wait and see if people still wanted to read it before I properly continued.**

**I would also like to remind everyone that this is written as though the sixth book HAD NOT been released as my fic was started before the book came out.**

**Disclaimer: "I don't own Harry Potter…"**

* * *

In each person's life, there are moments, which should be captured and saved for all eternity, for these moments change everything; they shape your future and hold your destiny. Within the depths of Hogwarts School, the Head Girl stood in close proximity to a certain blond Slytherin. A boy, who over the years she had learned to hate; and he in return to hate her, for they came from different worlds; one of blood pure, and the other a muggle born and such breeds were never to mix. And yet there they stood, captured their own moment.

She opened her mouth slightly, as though ready to spill her thoughts, and yet the silence remained unbroken, for the words refused to emerge.

"Tell me," he encouraged, unable to control his curiosity from taking over.

And she wanted to. Nothing had changed, he was still the same Draco Malfoy, and yet she wanted to tell him everything, even though she knew deep down that it was the wrong thing to do. The fact of the matter was that she was just a girl, and he, just a boy, and as they stood there together, she felt unable to impede the urge to tell someone just how scared she was. Even if that someone, was the boy who over the years had shown nothing but hate towards her.

"It was nothing really," she whispered, hoping that the slight trembling of her voice would be less detectable if she spoke quietly, "just someone trying to scare me".

"Well obviously Granger, they succeeded," the boy replied, suddenly aware of how close they were, and so took a small step back, careful not to take his eyes off the girl, encouraging her to continue without the use of words.

"It was just empty threats. Childish really," she said with feigned confidence.

"Who was it?"

"I don't know," her voice was beginning to crack and much to her horror, her eyes filled with liquid, and yet she refused to let a single tear escape. She remained silent after this, fearing that if she tried to speak, she would be unable to control the flow of tears, which was waiting to erupt. Hermione could feel his breath on her shoulder, and she felt so… safe. She opened her mouth decidedly, with a little more confidence than before, and began to speak in a barely audible voice.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Once again, thank you to all the people who are reading this, and especially those who are reviewing: lunlunmon, smartcat, ebonyS2, living dead, Lucifer's Lair, darktwistedpoet, roguedork, KayeRyoko, Encrypted Pseudonym, lol, ABleedingShadow and OnerousOrangutang.**

**Also a special thanks to my beta reader Encrypted Pseudonym without whom I could not have written this chapter, and thanks for putting up with my constant e-mails filled with "Why does this sentence sound wrong! What shall I do! HELP!" I could go on but you get enough of it already. So anyways thanks. **

**I would also like to remind everyone that this is written as though the sixth book HAD NOT been released as my fic was started before the book came out.**

**Disclaimer: "I don't own Harry Potter…" **

* * *

The blond boy cast a gentle eye upon her as she struggled to find the right words; he dared not move for the moment was so fragile he feared it would all to easily break. "It was dark," she whispered her eyes liquefying once more, and for a moment he wasn't sure if she would continue, and yet after what seemed an eternity, her lips parted once more as if to continue. 

Before another single word could escape her mouth however, a resounding crash interrupted their conversation as thedoor swung open and banged sharply into the stone wall, causing the head boy and girl to leap apart, the loud noise apparently having reminded each of them who they were with.

Ron stood in the doorway, his face slightly pinker than was normal, even for a Weasley. His eyes, bright with anger, surveyed the room and took in the guilty looking expressions on both their faces and not failing to notice the unshed tears in Hermione's eyes. "What the hell is going on!" He demanded almost shaking with rage.

"Nothing Weasel, you're welcome to the filthy mudblood, I would never touch... that" came the cold and all too familiar voice of Draco Malfoy and with that the moment which he had shared with the girl had been broken and normality resumed. Although he had enjoyed the feel of her body close to his, it didn't feel real and it didn't feel right. Anger and coldness he could handle, anything beyond began to scare him and so he remained on the ground which he was familiar with. And even though he knew it was the fault of the redhead that the only chance he had to find what was wrong with Granger had just slipped through his fingers, for some reason, perhaps out of habit, he found himself taking out his anger on the muggleborn girl before him. He knew his words had hurt her, and for the briefest of moments he felt guilt, but that was a feeling that as a Malfoy he had learned from an early age to ignore; yet this time he was finding it harder than ever before.

Ron turned almost purple with the effort it took to prevent himself from punching the pasty faced boy again. "If you EVER lay a finger on her I swear I'll..." the boy trailed off, apparently so furious that even speech seemed to fail him.

"Ron, leave it, he's not worth it," Hermione finally managed to choke out pulling herself together.

She shook her head at the hot headed Gryffindor willing him with her eyes to leave it be, and inwardly wondering why Malfoy's words had stung more than she was expecting. She had been almost sure that over the years she had built up an immunity to his petty insults, and yet something had changed for the words which escaped his lips stung.

She hated him.

Ron gaped at her for a second; he was seemingly unable to understand why Hermione wouldn't just let him beat the shit out of the Slytherin bastard and yet there seemed to be a certain finality to her words, and so this once he let it go. Turning away from Malfoy he led the way out of the room and with one final fleeting glance the girl followed him out the door.

The blond Slytherin stood alone in the room, for a moment blocking out all thoughts, until he could resist them no more, and the look Hermione had given him as she left the room seemed to have imprinted itself in his mind. He knew there had been a mixture of both anger and what seemed to be _pity_ in her eyes; and this more than anything confused the boy for if anything it should be he who did the pitying. After all she was the mudblood, and he was everything she could never be; he had power and riches and a perfect bloodline. And yet as these thoughts resounded in his mind, a little voice seemed to silence them all, a voice which Draco had not known even existed and he couldn't help but think '_but it's you that's standing here alone'_ and for a moment it dawned on him what it meant to have everything and nothing all at the same time.

The boy was not sure quite how long he stood there but when he did finally emerge from the room, the corridors of Hogwarts were deserted and a silence had filled the space which only a few hours prior had been full of life and commotion and this alone was enough to tell him that it was late. Late enough for there to be consequences, even for a head boy such as himself, if he were now caught out of bed; and yet he didn't care because for once in his life Draco Malfoy's thoughts were consumed with someone other than himself.

He walked so casually to the Gryffindor common room that one would not for a moment have guessed that he was preparing to enter the enemy's lair and further more to do something a Malfoy had never done before. He didn't know why he was doing it, but he chose to tell himself that it was just because he was curious by nature and it was the only means to get Hermione to confess to him what had happened to her. And there was nothing; nothing more in it than that.

He muttered the password to the portrait of the fat lady who glared at him; never having quite accepted that head boys and girls were allowed into all the house common rooms, and grudgingly swung open allowing for the boy to take a step into the room. He entered slowly so as not to disturb any of the sleeping members of the Gryffindor house as it was late and he was too tired for yet another confrontation with that bloody Weasley boy.

He smiled wondering what Potter and his little side-kick would make of the fact that he was sneaking into Granger's room in the middle of the night. He couldn't help smirking a little at this while knocking ever so gently on the girls bedroom door, before entering, not having bothered to wait for a reply.

The girl was sitting in bed, holding a large volume in her hand and was apparently too enthralled in the words on the pages before her that she did not straight away notice the blond boy who had entered her room.

"Granger…" He began, but didn't get much further as the girl, obviously shocked by his presence dropped her book onto the floor and gave a little shriek which was half masked by the loud thud the book made as it fell from her lap and onto the cream carpet. He looked at the cover and raised an almost silver brow in amusement, "The Hogwarts founders uncovered?" he smirked reading the now faded red writing of the title.

Hermione glared at him and made to pick up the large book, "what are you doing here Malfoy," she sighed wearily; she was tired and had better things to do than play his mind games.

"I wanted to apologize," he muttered casually, "about earlier".

"Great," Hermione marked her page and placed the book in the little wooden cupboard nearby before sitting cross legged at the end of her bed, "and now that's over with perhaps you could close the door on your way out".

"Granger…" he paused for a second to recollect his thoughts; he had no idea what to say next and considered just leaving, but that moment passed quickly and he continued to speak, "what is it exactly that you want from me, I apologized didn't I?"

"Really Malfoy, and that's meant to make it all better is it? Because believe me it doesn't," she glared at him, and each word which came out of her mouth was reinforced by a look of pure venom which she shot him, "and what is it exactly that you are apologizing for Malfoy? If it for the last seven years of prejudice against me purely for the fact that I am muggle born, is it for making me feel like a nobody all those times you insulted me when I did nothing to you, or are you apologizing because you tricked me for a moment into thinking you might actually having a heart before once again proving me wrong?"

For a moment speech failed him and instead he leaned against the door which he had just shut behind him and took in the girl's words. He couldn't understand why she was being so unreasonable… I mean sure maybe she did have a _bit_ of a point. He just never really realized how much his words had affected her. _Stupid mudblood… why does she always have to be right! _

She looked at him expectantly, her eyes willing him to just leave and yet at the same time wanting to believe his apology had been sincere, however she could not forget that he was a Malfoy and Malfoy's were notorious for hating muggleborns. Notorious for hating her.

"You know what I don't get?" she asked in a quiet whisper, hardly daring to believe what she was asking him, and not sure why either, though it was a reasonable enough question, "What has any muggleborn even done to you?"

"You wouldn't understand Granger," he sighed.

"Really?" the girl bit back, her cheeks slightly aflame with anger, "I wouldn't understand? Perhaps Malfoy what you mean by that is you don't have an answer. Your prejudice against mudbloods is stupid and unjustifiable and comes from your bloody father who you, for some reason, seem to believe".

"Shut the fuck up Granger," he growled taking a step towards her threateningly however she remained unmoved by the rage which flared up with him, "you don't know what you're talking about".

"Really so why don't you explain it to me?" she challenged, standing up to look him in the eye, subconsciously letting him know in this way that she was just as strong as he was.

"Look just forget it," he sighed, "this isn't why I came. I didn't want another argument".

"Well arguing is what we do Malfoy; you of all people should have realized this by now," the girl muttered, once again resuming her previous position at the end of her bed. She crossed her legs and looked up at the blond Slytherin, trying to work him out. A seemingly impossible task as Draco Malfoy was a person with many depths and layers. Perhaps not all visible, but definitely all there.

He smiled almost genuinely and pulled his wand out of his pocket, "look, let me prove to you that I'm not all bad. I think I know how to get rid of that writing off your wall," he turned to face the scorched wall to his left, trying not to laugh at the memory of Granger setting it on fire.

Wearily the girl pulled out of her own pocket the two pieces of broken wood, momentarily having forgotten the state of her wand. She looked down at it first in dismay and then in something which was much closer to amusement than anything else and despite the sheer inconvenience of it all Hermione couldn't help but let out a little laugh.

"Granger if you wanted to give up magic and go live in the wild you could have just said, you didn't have to go to the lengths of snapping your wand."

Hermione looked up at him outraged, before realizing that he was joking. She could tell by the smirk which had graced his features. It wasn't the usual ugly disgusted smirk that contorted his face whenever he was insulting her. This was different. It was gentler and as he spoke his eyes sparkled with amusement and, for the first time, when she looked up at him, she didn't see Draco Malfoy Slytherin prince, instead she just saw a boy.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I would like to first of all thank everyone who is reading this fic, and I would also like to once again give a special mention to everyone who is bothering to review, I love you all, so thanks to: ebonyS2, lunlunmon, Lucifer's Lair, Scottishloz, TouchofPixieDust, smartcat, Laura224, martini01, MychemicalInbalance, KayeRyoko and ABleedingShadow.**

**Also I once again need to give extra thanks to my Beta reader Encrypted Pseudonym who puts up with me, and without whom I could not have written this chapter! **

**I would also like to remind everyone that this is written as though the sixth book HAD NOT been released as my fic was started before the book came out.**

**Disclaimer: "I don't own Harry Potter…" **

* * *

That was the moment where every thing changed. As they stood together so casually neither enemies nor friends Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy had started, perhaps without knowing it at the time, a new path. One of many adventures. It was as though the war which had been brewing between the two of them had dissolved and all the prejudice and bitterness was forgotten… or if not quite forgotten, at the least, set aside for the time being.

There was silence for a moment, neither knowing what to say, and an awkwardness settled upon the room. Draco being true to his word pointed the wand which he held in his hand at the scorched wall, and with perfect enunciation repeated the spell, "tergeo". A pale blue hand seemed to come out of the end of the boy's wand and extended slowly until it reached the writing. Draco gave an experimental flick with the wand and as predicted, the hand followed, erasing each of the letters as it moved over them. The blond boy grinned triumphantly at his work, "easy," he shrugged glancing at the girl.

Once the words were completely erased the blue hand slowly disintegrated until it completely disappeared, the only sign left to show it was ever there being a few specs of blue powder which almost glittered on her wall.

Hermione snorted ungraciously at his comment, mentally kicking herself that she had spent hours searching in the libraries most advanced texts when all along such a simple spell was the answer. However Hermione did not fail to notice that this time, she did not feel the usual jab of annoyance which gripped her whenever Malfoy thought of something before her. She shrugged mentally deciding that it was probably because she was learning to tolerate the boy. "Thank you," she said whilst inspecting her wall, a feeling of relief washing over her, as well as something which she had never before felt towards the Slytherin boy… gratitude.

Draco shrugged casually in such a way that one would have thought it the most normal thing in the world that he was standing in the middle of her bedroom in the depth of the night; and it was in this instant that he noticed that _that_ was exactly what he was doing. He looked down at the carpet in something close but not quite embarrassment before muttering a quick goodnight and turning to leave.

Almost as an afterthought her turned back round to face the girl, his eyes resting on the broken pieces of her wand which she still held in her hand, he grinned slightly as he spoke, "and Granger, as interesting a style statement as your wand is, it does make performing magic quite difficult, perhaps you should consider sending it to Olivander's for him to look at", and with this he gave a slight nod of his head and took a step out of the room, closing the door behind him and leaving the girl alone with her thoughts.

For the briefest of moments she did not move; and instead she chose to take in the evenings encounter, trying to understand what had just happened. Whilst they were both still the same, everything around them had been altered and it was as though the slate had been wiped clean and they were strangers meeting for the first time. As was habit when the girl was deep in thought, Hermione bit gently on her lower lip whilst she climbed under the covers of her bed and routinely looked up at the ceiling, which was covered in shadows which darkened as clouds moved to hide the moon, and the only source of light was momentarily hidden.

She allowed the warmth to embrace her and seep through her skin right to the very core of her and whilst she waited for sleep to take her to the world of dreams she thought of a certain blond boy and wondered what had brought about the change in him. It was then that something else occurred to the girl… perhaps the boy had not changed at all, and she was just seeing a side of him which she had before now ignored.

Either way as she drifted off, the last thing she consciously noted was that for the first time since this whole saga had begun, she felt relaxed.

The first thing Hermione noticed when she next opened her eyes was that the darkness of the previous night had been replaced by light, and smiled as the sun shone through her curtain-less window and warmed the room. Stifling a yawn she climbed out of bed and, grabbing a handful of clothes stumbled into the shower, craving to feel the hot water run over her.

Locking the door behind her she pulled off the oversized t-shirt which belonged to her father and unclipped her hair, allowing it to fall freely down her back before stepping into the shower. She gave a little shriek as cold water poured onto her body, however in an instant it began to warm and she grinned as it washed away the feeling of sleep and relaxed her in a way nothing else could.

For a moment she thought of Malfoy, wondering what it was exactly that had happened the previous night. Their relationship (if it could even be called that) had gone from being all too simple, to something much more meandering. It was as though he had overstepped an invisible line and what was once hate seemed to have become impassive and unreadable. Whereas before everything was black and white, it felt suddenly as if everything had been plunged into a many shaded world of grays and this only served to confuse her. The girl wanted to know what came next and yet for once she had no answers.

As head boy and girl it was their duties to lay aside childishness and accept each other as equals and although nothing formal had been accepted, his friendly manner perhaps made her wonder if, they had somehow made that step. It was as though they were now on foreign soil and where they went from here was up to them.

Unless… unless she had got it all wrong.

What if it was just a one off moment? Something not to be repeated. Perhaps she was over estimating Malfoy's maturity… over estimating how easy it was to erase the past. The girl bit her lip suddenly dubious about things. They were enemies. Could that ever truly be erased?

And yet, enemy was such a strong word. It was true over the past few years Malfoy taunted her to say the least, and yet, was that really enough to class him as an enemy. For some reason she was sure the answer to that question was no. To say Draco was no angel would be an understatement of the grossest kind, but Hermione was sure that he wasn't quite as bad as his reputation suggested.

However, even if nothing else had come from this, Hermione had seen the Slytherin prince for what he really was… just a boy… and she just a girl and there was no reason, no reason at all to fear him or anything he said… they were equals. And no doubt without meaning to, _he_ had showed her that.

Shaking her head she chose to wipe all such thoughts from her mind, for they were pointless, and for once Hermione chose to allow herself to unwind instead of over analyzing things. She would permit nature run its own course and just let things be. After all, what did it matter what Malfoy thought anyway? As long as she had her friends and people she loved around her, then everything would turn out just fine. She was sure of it.

The girl smiled, as her inner child emerged and with a finger drew a sun on the steamed up glass before shutting off the water and pulling a towel tightly around her. She shivered as her long hair stuck to her back and clipped it up before jumping into a pair of jeans and clean t-shirt before heading back to her room in search of her robes.

It was no surprise to the girl to find her two best friends already in the common room seated in their favorite seats talking animatedly and waiting for her to get ready, for as much as they loved their sleep they loved food more, and Monday morning meant pancakes. She grinned and waved at the duo as she rushed passed them and into her room in order finish getting ready and grab the appropriate books for her morning lessons, transfiguration and potions.

Moments later, once ready she walked over to her two friends, their expressions seemingly more serious than they had been moments ago when she rushed passed them, "hey guys," she said allowing herself to fall into the chair next to Ron, "what's up?"

"Oh nothing," smiled Harry, shooting Ron a look which she could not quite read "Ron was just…"

"It's not _nothing_ actually," the ginger boy interrupted, "I was telling Harry what that bastard said to you yesterday. I mean who does he think he is anyways?" Ron's features had been rearranged and a look of pure distain appeared the instant he referred to Malfoy.

Hermione shrugged silently, not sure exactly how to respond, she opened her mouth to give her usual respond that Malfoy was just a good for nothing git, and yet it was as though she were unable to do so. He had helped her out yesterday, albeit it was most likely he did so to soothe his own conscience, she felt she owed him… that was the only reason, she was sure, that she could not bring herself to insult him and so instead chose to change the subject and take this chance to send an owl to Olivanders before lessons started. "Why don't you two go down to breakfast, I want to send a quick letter to my mum," she smiled casually to hide the guilt she felt at having to lie to her friends. She should have just told them the truth to begin with… but both of them had enough to deal with without worrying about her. "Harry you don't mind if I borrow Hegwig do you?"

"No go ahead; she probably needs the exercise," next to him, the coppery haired boy gave a loud snort causing Harry to sigh and for Hermione's benefit mutter "Hagrid recons she's slightly overweight".

The head girl laughed along side her friends, a feeling of normality comforting her. She rolled her eyes as Harry defended his beloved pet and followed her two friends out of the common room, whilst Ron continued to tease Harry about his owl.

And as she waved goodbye to her friends and walked to the owlery she felt like everything was as it should be. Anything that had happened previously was momentarily wiped from mind and all thoughts of evil and threats had disappeared… all that was left was a feeling that today was going to be a good day, and nothing could take that away from her.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: It's been a long time. Too long. And for that I am sorry. I just hope I still have a few people interested and can only say that there have been a lot of things going on in my life which have made it almost impossible to update for a while. I would however now like to get back on track and finish this thing!!**

**Also a huge thank you to everyone who has been reading and reviewing (lunlunmon, ebonyS2, smartcat, roguedork, zetsubou keigai, ScRibBLrOfDrEaMs, Lucifer's Lair, KayeRyoko, Viktoria, KelleyGreen, sweet.sonata, ABleedingShadow and omnipotent otaku). It's so much nicer to write when you know there are people interested. **

**I would also like to remind everyone that this is written as though the sixth book HAD NOT been released as my fic was started before the book came out.**

**This is short I know. But it is just my way of letting people know I am still around; and I will try and get the next chapter up within a fortnight. **

**Disclaimer: "I don't own Harry Potter…" **

* * *

­­­­­­­The dark potions room was quiet, perhaps a little too quiet but that came as no surprise to the blond boy who sat at a desk, his head down and deep in thought, whilst awaiting the other members of the class to arrive. He was uncharacteristically early and although he had a flare for the subject his early arrival was to do with an entirely different matter. 

Draco had long ago accepted that as must pride as he felt for being a Slytherin, the house of cunning wits and undetectable boldness, it was admittedly not the house for those quiet and brooding days; and so for these he had to find sanctuary else where… and the empty potions classroom gave him just that.

Despite much resilience, he couldn't quite manage to keep a certain Gryffingor girl out of his thoughts. He couldn't help but wonder if she was right. What if all these years _he _had been the fool and she was merely the one trying to get along in an unfamiliar world. And yet did it really matter? After all surely the gap was too big to bridge. No words could ever erase the past. After all, words are just a mixture of letters, they hold no substance where substance is denied.

And so he sat there, his face impassive just like his heart, lost within himself, and confused by the most obvious of things, waiting instead for the inevitable disruption which was soon to come as the class came to life and the calm was overtaken.

As of on queue, the all too familiar voices of the Slytherin gang began to resound like a dull echo coming from outside the room. The door swung open too soon for his liking and the students piled in, all talking animatedly, enjoying their last moments of freedom before the potions master stormed in as was routine; causing all frivolity to evaporate and casting an appropriately severe mood upon the lesson.

It was almost amusing to see the automatic death of the atmosphere as Snape walked into the lesson and with his usual air commanded for pairs to be formed. The students automatically divided themselves, the Slytherins on one side, the Gryffindors on the other, there was no intermixing. Ever. It was part of the unwritten rules of Hogwarts; that's how it had always been, and how it would no doubt stay.

Snape looked up as motion had halted, and in an all too familiar way glared at his students, his eyes piercing through each of them, and with a harsh voice began barking orders, "Granger, you will no longer be working with Longbottom, how will the fool ever learn if you dominate every class project the two of you work on? You will be with Malfoy. As for you Longbottom you're with Potter. Weasley you'll be working with Goyle and Crabbe move next to Blaise. No arguments. Just do it."

There was no time left for immaturity. That was something better left outside the classroom; and instead those told to move did so in seconds, once again giving the long haired man all their attention as was expected. With a flick of the teacher's wand, the ingredients had been written on the board, further assumptions would be made my individual pairs, those who had revised would know what they were doing, those who had not, would later deal with the harsh mans wrath.

No further words were needed, the lesson had begun.

At the back of the room, the head girl worked in silence, reading the ingredients carefully and collecting them whilst the head boy chopped. It was an almost silent agreement which the two of them had reached, nothing but efficiency was required. Words were an excess, and would only cause complications.

As the boy worked he couldn't help but shoot her a few curious glances, it was as though she were a stranger, and each time he looked at her, he was memorising the curves of her face, familiarising himself with them, something which in all his years at Hogwarts, he had never allowed himself to do. Hermione paused for a moment, looking up at the board, and Draco did not fail to notice the previous look upon her face, the calmness, melt and in its place, panic took over. "Malfoy," she whispered "I need my wand for this".

His brows furrowed as he tried to make sense of her words, before his memory began to once again serve him, "you sent it off?"

"Well it was hardly any use to me broken in two," the girl responded snappily whilst at the same time looking around for the potions master. Hermione was not one to take failure in her stride, and admitting incompetence was something her pride rendered her unable to do. It was this stubbornness within her which the boy could not help but defend.

Draco shrugged almost nonchalantly, "don't panic, I'll do that part," for a moment Hermione was sure he smiled at her, but it was fleeting and vanished as fast as it appeared, "here, do some chopping".

Neither spoke for a moment, almost shy, or perhaps just unused to treading on such calm territory together. Refusing to look at him in a barely audible voice the girl whispered, "Draco," she paused as though tasting his name upon her lips, "thank you".

The blond boy shrugged and as an afterthought, not wanting to leave their conversation at the almost awkward place she had created with her politeness, he added, "and don't forget detention tonight. We are already considered disgraces to the title 'head boy and girl'. Plus, I don't know if you've noticed but McGonagall's scary when she's mad".

They shared a smile, a first for them. Something, which much to Draco's surprise, came easier than he would ever have thought. In fact, it was almost nice. Almost.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: And finally a chance to make some progress with the storyline. Hope you enjoy.**

* * *

In the midst of the Gryffindor common room, the notorious trio sat, or perhaps more accurately, slouched on a large sofa in front of the fire, a spot which over the years they had labeled their own; and neither were they too bold to say so.

Hermione Granger, with much persuasion had momentarily abandoned her studies to spend a little time with her friends. "It's sad you know, as of next year we won't be able to do this any more" she sighed, "no more Hogwarts, no more common room, no more just hanging around in front of the fire".

Ron snorted, "Yeah, no more Snape, no more bloody Slytherin's, no more rules! It's going to be devastating!" he added sarcastically. Hermione threw a cushion at his head, which despite his proclaimed fast reflexes (something which he insisted upon ever since their last defeat against the Ravenclaws in their previous quidditch match) still managed to hit him squarely in the face. "Circumstance Hermione!" Ron shouted, flinging the pillow to the ground dramatically and lacking somewhat in maturity sticking his tongue out at the girl, "that's the only reason we're friends! After this year don't expect to ever see me again!"

"Sure I will," the Gryffindor girl quipped "on the front of 'Wizards most wanted' after you murder some poor woman you were in fact trying to put a love spell on or something similarly ridiculous"

Ron tried to look harassed but couldn't help but smile at his friends sharp wit and, through lack of a better response muttered, "oh shut up; isn't it time you went to detention anyway?" Hermione nodded and groaned at the effort of getting up, yet against all odds, and her own belief she managed it. As she left she picked up the velvet pillow which still lay on the floor and threw it at the now empty space between her two friends.

Almost as an afterthought she turned to the notorious green eyed boy and added, "If you see Crookshanks put him in my room for me. The bloody animal keeps wondering off and I haven't seen it in days!"

"And on behalf of myself and the Gryffindor's Hermione, I can assure you it has been a great loss" Harry joked; however added, "but yeah no problem" in order to cut off any form of lecture from the girl. Hermione smiled, apparently choosing to ignore her friends' new found sarcasm and find McGonagall.

Draco was already waiting outside her office… waiting for her. As she approached she acknowledged him with a smile and a quick nod of her head, "Malfoy," she muttered.

"Hermione" he replied, in such a way one would have thought this was what he had always called her.

The girl did not mind, in fact she preferred it, and met his challenge with a simple, "Draco".

As though she had been waiting for her queue the severe woman stepped out of her office, "excellent, I thought I had heard voices," she did not smile, "tonight you will be running more of a personal errand for me" she looked grim as she continued, "ever since Peeves caused Jason Whatkins to break his leg at the start of the year we have had a flow through of letters from parents who apparently have nothing better to do with their time" if Hermione hadn't known better, she could have sworn the woman was sulking. "The two of you will be opening letters and sorting them into piles of importance. The ones which need responding to and the once which are of no immediate importance. Professor Zarchov has kindly loaned us his classroom for the evening, where you will find the letters have already been placed for you. Go ahead; I will join you shortly after I have attended to a matter in the kitchens".

Without even waiting for a response from either of the students, the woman swept off in a hurry, muttering to herself about incompetent staff and other such business. Draco raised a silver brow at Hermione and muttered, "Women… I don't think I'll ever understand them!"

"Believe me," she replied, "the feeling is entirely mutual. I long ago accepted that it was easier to just indulge the male species as opposed to ever trying to understand them"

"What are you talking about?" Draco demanded as they began to walk towards the classroom, "men are simple".

"Really?" the girl demanded.

"Definitely," he replied curtly, "How hard can it be for you women to understand, we need three things in life," he began to list them off on his fingers, as though making it simpler for her, "sex, food and sex"

"And _that_," she replied, "is why you are single"

"You're right" he replied.

"I am?"

"Of course" he smiled, "I forgot the alcohol!"

"Oh shut up," the girl rolled her eyes, as they approached the classroom and twisted the door handle, entering first. There was a pause in which she stood with the door ajar, not saying anything; and then apparently unable to render herself silent as her first immediate response burst its way through her lips, "Fuck. Me" she sighed her eyes opening in a mixture of shock and dread.

"Well Granger I never had you down as such a kinky…." He boy trailed off as his eyes made contact with the piles of letters all around the large chamber. There were hundreds of them, stacked in neat piles all around the room, all unopened, waiting for them.

The boy leaned against the door frame, taking it in, wondering if it would now be too late to fake illness and crawl off to bed. Perhaps if he angered Granger enough she would hex him, and leave him unable to follow through with detention. Hermione glanced over at him and grunted "whatever you're thinking you might as well forget it. If I have to do it, so do you". He couldn't help but grin at that.

"Come on then," he retorted, "if we start now we may have finished in time for Christmas, of next year".

"You're obviously on optimist" Hermione moaned half-heartedly, "I would have said next spring" the girl ripped open a letter from the nearest pile, scanned the first line and threw it in the rubbish pile. "Who would have thought parents could be so opinionated. I supposed that's what happens after half a dozen kids walk out of you and you quit your job to look after the last of the collection of loud, screaming infuriating children".

"Someone's lacking their maternal instinct" Draco smiled, pulling another handful of letters from the pile.

"No it's definitely there," she responded jokingly, "it's just being overridden by my vast amounts of logic".

The blond boy shook his head disbelievingly, "I'm going to have two boys and a girl"

"They don't go on order you know" she sighed

"I just have a feeling" he grinned.

"Well you're a man, what do you know" she laughed, surprising herself in realizing that talking to him was refreshing.

"Well you're a mud…" he looked up sharply, and in his eyes you could tell he wished that he could reach out and grab the word, put it back in his mouth and swallow it "I'm sorry". The previous frivolity had erased and was now replaced with a harsh emptiness. For every step they had gone forward, they had taken another back. The girl shrugged, saying nothing, but the hurt in her eyes was evident. She felt like a fool because just for a moment she had forgotten the rules. Forgotten their worlds. Forgotten that his whole bringing up evolved around hating impurity; and she nothing short of just that.

He wanted to explain to her that he had meant nothing by it. It was just years of habit forcing through; but what was the point. What would either of them gain out of it? After all these years, the chance for friendship has dissolved. It was too late. Her name aside, he new nothing about her. That was how it would no doubt stay. Though he told himself this, he glanced up at the girl, wondering if he had hurt her… wondering why he was such a fool as to ruin the fragile semi-friendship they had created.

"Hermione…?"

"It's fine Malfoy," she sighed.

"So we're back to that are we?" he muttered angrily.

"Yes we're back to that," she replied, her voice cold, the barriers of self defense erect as ever, "we'll always be back to that because you will always see me as a mudblood" she shrugged, determined to show him that she didn't care. "I suppose that's just how things are".

Draco ignored the feeling at the back of his throat which seemed to resemble something a lot like guilt and instead threw a handful of letters into one of the piles. He sighed inwardly, and of course having got over being angry at himself, directed it instead at the girl. She was judging him for who he was. He had been brought up this way, it wasn't his fault. The undeniable fact of the matter was that he was a wizard through and through; generations of ancestors told him so; and she, she was just a muggle.

A muggle who can easily compete with you on any wizarding matter, added a voice at the back of his mind, which over the years he had been altogether successful in ignoring, and yet tonight, he felt unable to suppress. It hadn't mattered which line of family she had come from when you were talking to her, joking with her, teasing her.

That was different.

It was different, because he had forgotten to think about his past. About his father. About all that up till now he had been sure where given facts; but was now beginning to think otherwise. He looked up at her. She was not just a mudblood. She was an amazing witch. One who had over the years more than proven herself; now what did that say about all that his father had told him? That it was bullshit. Absolute bullshit.

"You're wrong" he whispered; breaking the silence. The girl looked up at him as he continued to talk, "that's not how things are. Its how I have made things; because I am a fool".

"Yes, you are" Hermione muttered, remaining unmoving for a second; and then decidedly putting down the letters which rested on her lap, she stood up and walked over to the blond haired boy, and somewhat hesitantly stuck out a hand, "perhaps we should start over?" she muttered, "my name is Hermione Granger" he looked at her knowing that she was meeting him half way and trying to not look surprised by it he took her offered hand and shook it.

"Draco" he whispered, "just Draco".


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: A huge thank you to those of you who are still reading this fic, I am sure I lost a lot of readers due to not having updated for a while, which no doubt only I am to blame. **

**Well anyways I just wanted to say I am happy to know some of you are still following sniffles I love you guys! It does mean a lot to me, as I am sure it also does to every other reader to know that there is someone out there liking the work we have put bits of our hearts into.**

**(Okay okay so now I have made it clear I am mentally and emotionally unbalanced perhaps we can continue with the story…)**

* * *

"Just Draco?" she repeated smilingly 

He held onto her hand just a moment longer than was required; looking into her eyes, wanting desperately to connect beyond the physical touch. Not because he needed her, or wanted her, but because it had been so long since Draco had felt anyone so genuine.

"Well," the girl took a step back, trying to resist from blushing, clearly unused to any kind of intimacy, "we should get back to this," she shrugged, waving her hand she had just reclaimed at the seemingly endless piles of letters yet to be opened.

"Leave them," he whispered, "it's late, there's no way we can finish them tonight".

"McGonagall said she would be down though," Hermione protested.

"That was hours ago, I doubt she's coming" Draco reasoned logically, "Come on I'll walk you to back to your room" the blond boy smiled, clearing with a flick of his wand the piles of empty envelopes and unimportant letters.

"It's fine Draco, I can go alone," she shrugged, moving towards the door.

"I know you can," he replied; and yet just the same he followed her down the dimly lit corridors to the Gryffindor's den. The gesture was nothing beyond the ordinary; had it been any other boy walking back any other girl to her dormitory; but the fact that it was Draco, made it almost surreal. And yet the girl was almost certain that she liked it.

She assumed not everything in life was meant to make sense. Sometimes things could happen with no reason or justification. After all, if life were a book it would one with pages missing and the ending as of yet unwritten. And in these books, no one knows why enemies collide, why lovers perish or why dragons seem so real; at least not until you get to the last line, the one which in all its simplicity makes it all look like just another matter of fateful coincidence. And make even the most peculiar of turnings seem so purposeful. The Gryffindor girl was not quite sure why life was leading her as it was, or why out of the blue a bridge which she didn't even know existed was slowly restoring itself but she was certain as she walked next to the blond boy, she felt…safe. As for the reason, well she could wait until the following chapters to find out.

"A penny for them" Draco smiled

"Hmm?" Hermione mumbled only having half heard what he said.

"Your thoughts" the boy elaborated.

"I'm sure they're not even worth that," the girl laughed at herself, rolling her eyes.

"Well now you've just made me curious how about we make that two pennies and a…" as they stepped around the corner, his sentence trailed off.

Both of their eyes widened in horror, and in an instant, any joviality evaporated and the mood did not take more than a second to cloud, for what their eyes showed them, no emotion could convey.

A scream burned the girl's throat, wanting to erupt and yet remained seemingly suppressed for her lungs felt as though they had inwardly collapsed, rendering her incapable of breath. Draco grabbed Hermione's arm. Trying to pull her back around the corner, trying to get her to detach her eyes from the bloody mess which lay before them; but she refused to move. She couldn't.

The girl stood there limp, horrified as though in a dream within which her body had been frozen and her eyes forced open for all eternity to only view only the horrors of the world.

The blond boy instinctually pulled her closer to him, trying to silently comfort her, unable to do anything else. He pulled her face onto his shoulder, forcing her to stop looking at the mess before them.

An all too familiar cat was pinned to the wall. Its guts spilling out of its mangled body; the endless crimson stained all the way down the wall and formed a puddle on the floor contrasting sharply with the pale coloring of the carpet.

His ginger fur was now horribly stained and the smell of death hung in the air in a cold and tragic manner.

Words failed him as the girl began to silently sob onto his shoulder; as she leaned on him he guided her backwards around the corner and allowed her to slither down the wall, resting on the floor. Her breathing was sharp and almost hysterical. "I… can't…" cried, holding onto the boys arm; "who would…?" she gasped, holding onto her chest as though she were in physical pain, tears freely flowing down her face as though even the ocean could not contain the torrent of tears she held within her.

"Listen, Hermione I should go get a teacher, I mean we can't just…"

Hermione's hand shot up to her mouth before he could complete his sentence, "I think I'm going to be…" and with that the girl leaned forward, and threw up on the once blue carpet of the corridor. Draco grabbed her long hair, wrapping it around his fingers, moving it from her face.

"My God Granger…" he whispered, stroking her curls as he remembered his mother once did to him what now seemed an eternity ago.

It was strange. Draco knew how to touch a girl, how to make her feel better, how to make her feel good. But never like this. Never with her.

Wrapping an arm around her waist, he lifted her up, protecting her limp body, and walking her over to the end of the corridor. "Where are we going?" she whispered, allowing her body to go with him.

"To see Dumbledore" Draco replied, guiding her round yet another corner and stopping at the end to try and recollect his bearings. The boy had always prized himself as one well capable of adjusting to the most extreme of situations, and yet here he was, seemingly useless to the girl who needed him for the first time in her whole life.

"Do not move another step," came an all too familiar voice from behind them. The two students turned around, and despite the severe face which greeted them, the relief in their eyes was unmistakable. "What do you think you are both doing walking around the school at this time of night? What kind of example are the two of you setting? Detentions and late night ventures, do you really think that…" however the greasy haired man did not get a chance to continue his much un-appreciated rant for he was interrupted by the fresh tears of Miss Granger.

Snape looked up at the blond boy, clearly out of his depth and somewhat confused, "round the corner" Draco whispered, pushing the girl once again down to the floor and pointing the man in the right direction. "It's going to be all right," he mumbled into her hair, after all, in times like these, sometimes only blatant lies can comfort the confused soul.

After all, life is an unexpected tale. No one knows why things happen. No one understands why fate is harsh, why people are cold and why lies seem appropriate when the truth hurts too much.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Okay well most importantly I want to thank everyone who is reading and reviewing; especially the regulars who I actually look forward to the comments of (I am sure you all know who you are by now). **

**Also in reply to _'Ashley Donnan'_… I put my hands up to the fact I may not have been exactly regular with my updates. But I have passion. And I am really grateful that you haven't given up (yet)! **

**All comments are welcome and appreciated…**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.**

* * *

The notoriously wise and probably insane headmaster of Hogwarts School sat behind his desk, his eyes at this current moment lacking their usual sparkle and his face looking a little more aged than it had a moment before. His expression was un-readable as he observed the students before him in silence.

The head girl and boy sat in aligning chairs. Hermione Granger was quiet, for she dared not speak in fear it would once again cause the ocean of tears to erupt. The blond boy stared down at his knees intently; seemingly unsure what to do with himself, feeling neither of the two people in the room, were appropriate to rest his eyes upon. Hermione because he was sure any second now she would once again burst into tears, and Dumbledore, because the old headmaster had a way of reading him, and at this moment, he did not want to be read. Mostly, because the boy was unsure of what the man would find. There was something beautiful in her vulnerability.

The elderly man began to speak in a voice with which even in a whisper he could captivate a crowd. "I promise you Hermione we will find the culprit. But I must ask you one final time, you have no other clues as to what this is about or who it might be?" The girl shook her head a little too vigorously, and Draco managed to hold his tongue for now. "Then you are both excused; if Mr. Malfoy would be so kind as to walk you back to your room".

Draco stood up dutifully, and with a nod back at the headmaster he took Hermione by the arm, leading her towards to door. It was only once they were clear of the headmaster when he began to speak, "You should have told him," the boy mumbled.

Hermione said nothing, and instead followed the blonde boy towards the Gryffindor chambers almost hesitantly; however it wasn't until they reached the portrait of the fat lady that she managed to spill the words out of her. "I don't want to stay alone tonight," unsure how to take this, the boy stood there in an awkward moment, before decidedly responding with a quick, "get your things".

The girl looked at him questioningly, but he instead muttered the latest Gryffindor password to the portrait of the fat lady and leaned against the wall, patiently waiting for her to do as she was instructed.

Whilst he stood alone in the darkened corridor, waiting for the girl to re-emerge, the blond boy asked himself a hundred times over why he was doing this. Why he wanted so badly to help her. Pity. It had to be pity. Nothing more nothing less. Surely even a Malfoy was allowed this window of emotion.

He recalled her face as she looked upon the mangled body of her cat and fear was all he saw reflected in her eyes; and all he had wanted to do was hold her and tell her it would be okay. Yet this was ridiculous. For years he had seen a million emotions flash through her eyes and never before had it affected him in any way. He had always been indifferent; so why should now be any different? What had changed?

She had… well in a sense. In his eyes she was not the same girl, for he was getting to know her, and the void which was her in his mind, was now replaced with a girl he wanted to know. Time and circumstance had changed things. He had grown up, and so had she. It wasn't that he cared, he told himself; it was that he was no longer indifferent.

As Draco stood, trying to make sense of his own thoughts, the portrait of the fat lady once again swung open, and Hermione stumbled out carrying a small bag and a heavy heart. She seemed to be containing within her a torrent of emotions, and that was never a good thing.

"Come" he whispered, guiding her round the corner and and walked her down corridors which seemed all too familiar to the both of them. "It should be around here somewhere," Draco muttered to himself more than anything after a few minutes of wandering "It always appears when I need it!"

"Draco what are you…" Hermione began somewhat confused.

As she walked ahead, preparing to turn the corner Draco reached out for her arm and gently tugged her towards him, before pushing her into the room, "found it" he smiled, "the room of…"

"Requirment" the girl finished off for him, looking around in wonder. The room had changed itself into a large common room; a mixture of both their house colors; with elements of both held within. The usual sofa stood in front of the lit fire place as Hermione had grown accustomed to from her own house common room. Yet the statue of the famously feared yet utterly beautiful sauceress which stood by the window, she recognized vaguely from the Slytherin room.

"Perfect," he smiled leading the girl to the sofa and pushing her onto it, "sit" he instructed, whilst he chose a spot on the floor by the fire, keeping a carefully selected distance. After all, a Malfoy never got too close, and he was beginning to feel himself weaken.

"Why are you doing this Draco?" the Gryffindor girl whispered.

"Would you rather I had left you?" Draco asked defensively, clearly avoiding the question and choosing a more meandering route, for he had no answer to that which she asked.

"Of course not," she muttered, "but what makes you try, when I know this isn't where you want to be".

"Maybe it is," he shrugged.

"But this is me" she replied bitterly, "it's all me. Look around you Draco, why are we even here. Open your eyes"

"What are you talking about?" he asked confused but gently for he could see the tears in her eyes re-emerging once more.

"Can't you see why this is happening? The writing on the wall, the man in the forest, Crookshanks," at the cats name the girl gave an involuntary sob, "it's all because of me. Because I'm a mudblood," she spat the word as though it was poison. "He was an innocent cat," she continued not bothering to mask the hurt, "he did nothing to anyone; they didn't have to bring him into their game". The girl pulled one of the pillows onto her lap, and burying her face into it, allowing it to soak up the liquid pain which escaped her eyes. "Sometimes I wish I could be you" she laughed bitterly, "just be normal… be a pureblood".

At this Draco got up and moved himself to the sofa next to her ignoring all the logic within him which screamed at him to hold his distance, "I was an idiot Hermione, you were right all along" he shook his head. The girl looked down at her knees, his words not having penetrated, for she refused to accept them. For too long had she been told otherwise. Draco pulled his wand out of his pocket, "give me your hand," he said gently. The girl hesitated for a moment before complying to his request and placing her hand on top of his. The boy turned it round so her palm was facing upwards and placed the tip of his wand on it, muttering something under his breath and dragging the wand over her palm, making a small incision. The girl whimpered in pain, but Draco held onto her hand tightly not allowing her to pull it back.

"Draco what the hell are you…" she gasped, more in shock than in pain and stared in horror at the blood flowed freely down her arm; staining the tips of her robe sleeves.

"Shhh…" he whispered. Within seconds Draco had done the same to his own palm and then brought his own hand up to meet that of the girl's, "Your blood. My blood. It's all the same". At this the girl stopped struggling, and instead looked up at the boy amazed.

They both looked at their joined hands, blood coursing from one to the other, and running down both their arms; after a moment Draco took his wand and with a well placed spell directed at the both of them healed the cuts.

Gently pulling her hand back, Hermione looked down at her palm, it was the same as ever, no marks left, no blood left, no sign to tell of what he had just done… what he had just done for her. "Thank you," she smiled; the tears having already dried on her face and the smile which came through was one Draco had not seen before. Not for him.

"You know," she muttered, "you're nothing like I thought".

"I guess maybe I have changed just a little" he shrugged, "grown up; realized that sometimes not everything you are taught is solid; not everything you are taught is true;" he smiled to himself and then added almost jokingly, "plus, you need a friend like me".

The girl grinned, "and what makes you believe such a bold assumption?"

"Well you know," he laughed, "keep the ego in check; we can't have you thinking you're always right".

"I'm not always right," she laughed, before adding, "just most of the time".

"Hermione?"

"Yes?"

"Shut up," the blond boy grinned.

The two smiled inwardly, having momentarily forgotten the previous upset of the night, having momentarily erased the pain, and knowing as they looked into each others eyes, that these are the moments that you remember all your life. The simplest form of happiness. Friendship.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Thanks so much to everyone who had been reading, a special mention to TouchofPixieDust, shyla, Tzefira, KayeRyoko, kaylerose, latinachikita and xxluciaxx.**

**Glad you all liked the last chapter because I wasn't completely sure about it myself. I hope progress between their relationship has been okay. Neither too rushed nor too slow?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.**

* * *

He didn't allow himself to think till she was asleep. It was well into the night, when the shadows seemed most alive and the stars shone their brightest when the Gryffindor girl finally succumbed to sleep and allowed the memories of the day to momentarily be put to rest while she escaped the world in form of dream. There was something beautiful about the way she slept; and it was perhaps for this reason the boy couldn't take his eyes off of her.

Yet there was something all too surreal about the night they had together shared. It was crazy. The two of them were following paths which they were both sure fate would never allow to cross for sometimes, there was something so different and so separate about two beings, that if a collision was ever to occur, everything either of them knew would be thrown in the balance.

Well here's what Draco knew. He knew that friendship was never as simple as people liked to fool themselves into thinking. He knew that this girl and he were on two opposite ends of the spectrum; and he knew that she was nothing more than a pedantic know-it-all.

But that was not all. Though he denied it the boy knew much more than this. He knew that whenever he looked into her eyes, there was something encased within them, so beautiful and wild that all he wanted to do was lose himself there. He knew that there was a mystery inside of her that made her all the more beautiful outside. And he knew that as she slept there on that sofa, so near to him, all he wanted to do was wake her, and see what it was like to kiss her.

Draco shook his head, trying to focus his thoughts; though for once, the boy was failing, and losing to himself. What right did he have to feel like this? When for so long he had done nothing but torment her. He was sure this was a punishment the Gods had together planned to spite him.

The boy almost smiled at this. To spite him? Since when did the God's give tender punishments in the form of a kiss?

He was being a fool. He didn't know this girl, not really. He didn't know all the things about her which any good friend should; yet there was something about her. Something he wanted closer to him.

Gently he rubbed her ankle which lay near him, tickling her with his finger, teasing her unconscious form. The girl twitched slightly and he couldn't help but grin to himself, and persist. When she awoke however it wasn't exactly what Draco had in mind; having taken her by surprise the girl jolted backwards, rolling off the sofa and onto the floor. Unable to hide his amusement the boy immediately burst out laughing.

"Draco!" she moaned trying but failing to sound stern.

"Sorry," he grinned, "did I wake you?" the blonde boy tried to readjust his features to an expression of innocence.

"What are you doing?" she moaned, her eyes shut tightly as though holding onto the last few minutes of sleep, "it's still the middle of the night".

"Couldn't sleep" he shrugged, climbing down to the floor next to her, "thought you would want to keep me company".

"Really," she girl sighed grudgingly sitting up, "and why would you think that?"

"Mans intuition" his lips formed that signature smirk.

"Men…" the girl laughed grabbing a pillow from on the sofa and hitting him in the face with it, "…do not have intuition. Of any kind. Do not fool yourself otherwise".

"Feisty," he teased, "I like it".

"Well thank heavens for that" the girl replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes, "I suppose my life is complete now I have the approval of… what is it you go by these days… they Slytherin man whore?"

"Shut it you," the boy laughed.

"Or what?" the girl raised an eyebrow half jokingly half daringly, moving closer to the boy, their faces only inches apart.

He observed her in silence for a second, looking at her lips, wanting to lean forward and taste her. Just the once. It was curiosity, he told himself. Then, before he could control himself or change his mind, in a barely audible whisper the boy muttered, "What would you do if I were to kiss you now?"

The girl froze. Torn. Unsure what to respond. Automatically she pulled her head back, looking at the boy confused, unsure why he had asked this. Was he teasing her? Toying with her emotions?

Draco stood up, "I'm sorry," he shrugged trying to look nonchalant but not quite managing it, "I shouldn't have said that".

Nothing else could be said. Instead he headed towards the door, clearly embarrassed, an emotion Hermione had never seen him so openly display. Draco Malfoy had never seemed like one for regret, but apparently this served as an exception.

Hermione did not bother to stop him. Instead she looked as his retreating back in nothing but sheer confusion. Unable to comprehend what had just happened.

She was sure she saw something genuine in his eyes as he sat so close to her; but that didn't mean it was real. He was after all a Malfoy; through and through he was the same. No one changes over night.

But who was to say that the change had been so sudden? Perhaps the boy had always been like this; it was just a part of him she had never before witnessed. The portentous and audacious side of him she was used to, but this she was unsure of; and Hermione didn't like to feel unsure.

Not knowing what else to do, the girl pushed all thoughts to the back of her mind, locking them up and refusing to venture there till the morning. She tried so hard to not recall the bloody mess of her beloved cat, she tried not to think of the fear or the uncertainty, and equally, she refused to think about the boy. Instead she curled back up on the sofa, facing the window and allowing herself to melt into the stars, which seemed to shine for her; their beauty captivated her and allowed her to think of nothing more than the gentle glow they created against the harsh night sky.

As for the blond boy; well his thoughts were not so easily cleared, and this is how he found himself pacing his bedroom, his heart tumultuous like a brewing storm; not angry at the girl, but at himself and his own foolishness. Despite the reputation the boy was somewhat resilient; yet now for the first time in a long time he was unsure. All he knew was that he was a fool.

He had ruined the little which they had built for no reason other than an inability to keep his thoughts contained within. Something which, before now had never been a problem.

Draco shook his head in determination; what did he care after all? So he had made a fool of himself. It was only Granger, what did it matter what she thought? So they had built some ground, it was never going to last anyways; friendship between enemies had a fatefully dark foreshadowing from the start.

All the same he barely slept that night; and it was with much inert frustration that he made his way down to breakfast that morning. He was as usual one of the first present and enjoyed it so, a certain amount of tranquility before the remainder of the students charged on through to fight over pumpkin juice and croissants.

As he sat, Blaise Zabini, a short Slytherin with an undeniable intensity about him moved down a few seats to talk to the head boy. "Early even by your standards Draco," the boy commented, passing over the toast.

"Couldn't sleep," Draco shrugged, buttering the darkest toast he could find.

"I heard about what happened to the mudblood's cat," the boy snickered, looking up at Draco expectantly waiting more information; no doubt to pass on to the remainder of the student body.

The blond boy absentmindedly slid a hand through his hair and in an attempted calm voice replied, "How do you know about that?"

"Come on mate, nothing stays secret in Hogwarts, even the walls have ears," the boy joked.

"Nothing much happened," Draco sighed.

"I heard there was blood _everywhere_," he continued, leaning forward conversationally, "I personally think _she _did it herself for attention".

"Is that right?" Draco asked leaning back and stirring his coffee, he usually preferred tea but in this case the extra caffeine was necessary, "and I suppose Dumbledore was in on this too, like a mass conspiracy to create large scale pity for Granger" his voice was dripping with sarcasm yet Blaise either chose to ignore it, or was a lot slower than Draco had up till now been led to believe.

"Well…" Zabini began in a hushed whisper, an intensity in his voice he only used when passing on important information, "now don't quote me on this but I hear that student teacher relationships are at an all time high, if you catch my drift. You think a mudblood got head girl without a bit of… bribery?"

"Blaise?" Draco asked calmly.

"Hmm?" the boy replied, cutting his fifth slice of bacon hungrily.

"When did you become such a jack-ass?" Draco asked casually. Blaise seemed affronted, but Draco, clearly not in the mood for foolishness stood up, and made his way back up to the Slytherin common room, with a good half hour to spare before lesson.

As he walked into the room, a familiar figure bounced towards him like an excited puppy seeing its owner for the first time in years "Draco!" Goyle called out, "there's a…"

"Not now Goyle" Draco sighed waving his hand in the air, "later okay?"

The large boy began to talk again but clearly not in the mood to listen, Draco walked on ahead to his own room and kicked the door open with his foot, and stepping in with a sigh of relief.

"Draco?"

The boy jumped, clearly not expecting company. He turned around to face two familiar brown orbs, looking up at him nervously. "Hermione" he replied with a nod, and taking a step back casually.

Instead of accepting his obvious want for distance the girl took a step forward, placing herself inches from the boy. "Here I stand with everything to lose," she smiled weakly.

Draco arched a perfectly silver eyebrow questioningly.

Hermione took a deep breath, "ask the question again Draco"

"What are you...?" Draco frowned.

"Ask the question again Draco," the girl repeated quietly, taking another step closer, for reasons unknown to him making the boy nervous.

"What would you do if I were to kiss you now?" he whispered to disguise the ever so slight tremor in his voice.

The girl smiled, "I'd say, I thought you'd never ask" and before logic could intervene, before sense could over take, she closed the distance between them with a careful step, and pressed her lips onto his. Allowing herself to be swept away. Swept away by him.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: As usual I would love to thank everyone who is reading, and especially those who have made the effort to review, kaylerose, Lazy EP., latinachikita, lightnig-bolt-luva, BittersweetAnne, omnipotent otaku, TouchofPixieDust and smartcat.**

**Also, Lazy EP. You want beta reader again your hired. **

**All comments are welcome and appreciated. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

* * *

There was something exquisite about the girl. Something which made him want her more. As she ran her fingers through his silver hair and kissed him with conviction; he wondered how he had never before felt what he was feeling now. Complete and utter, hunger. 

She pulled away slowly, almost shyly with a little smile on her face which, she somehow found herself incapable of hiding; "well okay I'll be on my way then," she nodded, not hesitating a moment longer before turning to the door.

"Wait," he called after her, trying to think of something, anything, to follow that up with and have her stay just a little longer; she looked up at him questioningly, "prefects meeting, scheduled for lunchtime" he shot out, erasing all previous frivolity. The girl nodded and he could have sworn a flash of disappointment crossed her face. She smiled, yet, he was unable to detect quite how genuine it was.

"See you there," she replied, before completing the last few steps to the door and leaving him.

He listened to her footsteps as they moved further and further away before he turned and allowed his fist to connect with the wall, "Prefects meeting… bloody prefects meeting," he growled to himself, "real smooth Draco". He sighed, unable to understand even himself, let alone the course of events that had led to where he now was.

It was beyond him why his usual charm seemed to melt away whenever in her presence and leave behind a confused school boy who was incapable of normal interaction with the opposite sex. Grabbing his school bag and pushing all further thoughts of the girl, and more importantly her lips to the back of his mind, the Slytherin prince decidedly ambled towards the door and tracing her footsteps, and thousands before her, he walked out of the common room and towards his next lesson.

Hermione on the other hand had other such plans. Lesson skipping had never been an option for the Gryffindor girl; for she believed a certain amount of commitment was required in all that she did. However, ignoring the studious side of her, she walked… ran even… back to her own common room, searching desperately for the unmissable Weasley red and the girl who owned it. Having known her long enough, Hermione was almost certain the girl would be sitting in a corner of the common room, catching up on work before her first lesson, much like her brother, Ginny had become somewhat lax in her determination to work; and leaving things to the last minute had become her new trade mark. She was beginning to wonder if it was in fact a hereditary trait which Arthur and Molly had somehow past onto all of their children. Curious, since the parents were anything but.

The boys, as she predicted were still in the Great Hall, no doubt eating their body weight in toast. The room was otherwise unoccupied, and thankfully Ginny sat alone. Over the years she had not changed a great deal; juxtaposing her brother she remained a more petite height and her once long red hair had been cut to shoulder length. Her face remained youthful, but pretty all the same. And as she looked upon the parchment before her, the blank look which graced her otherwise delicate features could only be described as cute.

As Hermione almost fell through the portrait and into the room, Ginny looked up at her friend smilingly, "If Ron sent you up to drag me to lesson you can tell him from me that I am…"

Before the girl could finish her sentence Hermione grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into the head girl bedroom, "forget lessons I need to talk to someone before I perhaps go insane".

Ginny giggled, "It may be a little late for that".

"Yes yes, a result I am sure of being acquainted with your brother for so many years" Hermione smiled at the girl.

"So tell me," Ginny said, whilst leaning back against the head of the bed, propping herself up against a pillow, "what could possibly be so important that you skipped lesson for it?"

"You heard about Crookshanks?" Hermione asked; the sadness in her voice clearly detectable.

Ginny nodded slowly, "Word gets around" she shrugged, "I didn't want to say anything, because I didn't want to upset you more," with that the girl leaned over and threw her arms around Hermione, "It must be so awful for you 'Mione," she whispered, calling her by the name she only ever used when the girl was upset.

Hermione nodded, "They will pay," she muttered, the conviction in her voice further bringing out the bitterness.

Neither spoke for a moment, almost allowing the anger to settle. Then, before she could change her mind she added, "Draco was there with me, I stayed the night with him," Ginny's head shot up automatically, eyes questioning, suggestive. Hermione shook her head, her checks marring a crimson color as the blush worked its way up her complexion, "Nothing happened. I just didn't much like the idea of spending the night alone". Ginny nodded understandingly, until Hermione blurted out, "I kissed him this morning". Now _that_ caught her attention.

Ginny spluttered for a few seconds, unsure what to say in response. Hermione blushed, as Ginny grinned out a question, "how was it?"

"It was, nice" she shrugged.

"Don't give me that!" Ginny squeaked, "now tell it how it was".

Hermione smiled, "Fine. He's good. He's very good."

"So now what happens?" Ginny asked casually.

Hermione looked up at her as though it were obvious, "nothing happens" she shrugged, "not every kiss has to become something more". She tried so hard to sound nonchalant, so much so that even her friend failed to hear the slight disappointment in her voice as she said aloud what she already knew. She was after all just a girl. A mudblood girl at that. And sometimes a bridge like theirs was too vast to ever fully cross.

One night was just that, a few hours, and nothing could be changed in such small a space. They had grown closer as of late, but there was too much past involved to be anything more than weary friends. All logic told her so. And logic did not fail. Yet if this was true, then why was it that in those few seconds as they stood there, tasting each other, touching, feeling, did her heart feel like it wanted to explode.

Excitement. That was all. It had to be.

She looked up at Ginny pleadingly, "what I have told you is a secret; it would be pointless for anyone to find out". Her friend nodded.

"If anyone knows about secrets it's me," Ginny laughed, though Hermione did not fail to see the look which crossed her eyes, a look of the lost.

"Tell him," Hermione said simply, knowing straight away what was causing her friends hurt, "you should know by now that life is about taking chances," she smiled "sometimes everything you want seems so out of reach, and so we give up on it; but what did giving up ever achieve?"

Ginny shook her head, "but sometimes it's so obvious that one can only accept it. Just because you love someone it doesn't mean that they will love you back!"

"I know this much," Hermione sighed, "I know that you don't smile with anyone else the way you smile with him. I know that every time someone says his name you grin like a fool. Don't think I haven't noticed".

"You may have done, but he remains oblivious" Ginny muttered, "or worse, perhaps he knows and just simply doesn't want me".

"Well then more fool him. It would be his loss".

Ginny nodded, "his loss, but my pain".

"Both fools aren't we?" Hermione smiled sadly, reaching over to return the earlier hug.

Ginny turned to her, "Both fools?" she repeated, "I thought you said the thing with Draco was nothing and you don't like him as anything more?"

"I don't," Hermione retorted automatically; though not fully convincingly.

At much the same time, elsewhere, Draco sat through yet another endless hour of Defense against the Dark arts; he did not fail to notice the Gryffindor girl's absence from lesson. By a certain coincidence, much of their timetable overlapped, as did their interest and brilliance in certain subjects; which no doubt flared their competitive nature. Both loving a challenge, and both determined to be the best; no exceptions.

The latest teacher eyed up the class in despair, she was a short woman, with a pretty face and a harsh manner. There was something unforgiving in here eyes, and her somewhat extensive knowledge on all things dark made the students, wary at the least.

She went by the name of Professor Amalda and as rumors went, she had worked her way up with romantic endeavors involving all those superior to her. Though, as Draco knew all too well, rumors were best left ignored. "Mr. Malfoy," she called, stirring him from his thoughts and forcing him back into the lesson, "I have been told that you much excel in this field, perhaps you'd like to help me demonstrate?"

"Perhaps not," he growled; that signature Malfoy smirk which he had reserved for occasions such as these once more graced his otherwise perfect features.

The woman carried on as though unaffected, and instead turned to face Harry, her eyes lighting up, "Mr. Potter, stand up," this time she was not defied.

Such disrespect would be otherwise intolerable, but from a Malfoy it was almost expected, and so teachers en mass chose to ignore his all too resilient persona, which money, prestige and a harsh upbringing had caused on him.

Ignoring the goings on at the front of the classroom, Malfoy's mind wondered elsewhere; into realms where it should not enter. Into realms where he could find the girl. In his imagination; the only place it would ever be safe to meet her.

There was something about her; something he could not quite detect, and something he sure as hell couldn't ignore; not through lack of trying either. She did things to him that he didn't feel quite safe with; things to his mind.

She was exciting. Different. Forbidden.

That was the extent of it. He sighed to himself, distractedly running a hand through his hair. His father would be disgusted; it was after all one emotion he was good at showing when it came to Draco. But either way it would never work. He had been foolish for being tempted by her in the first place. Tonight he would set things right. He would tell her that it had been a mistake. Apologize perhaps. And under no circumstances would he be tempted to do to her a single one of the things he had since been thinking of.

That's what he_ kept_ telling himself as he walked into the Prefects meeting later that afternoon; chosen to be held in an empty classroom on the far side of the castle. Largely out of use, as could be comprehended from the collecting dust.

Granger, unsurprisingly was already in there; propped on the end of one of the desks and flicking through a large tomb of a book; in the otherwise undisturbed classroom. "Granger," muttered, notifying her of his presence. Without looking up she marked the pages of her book and climbed down from the desk.

"Draco," she smiled, "I was hoping you'd be down before the others".

The blond boy nodded, "well actually there was something I wanted to talk to you about".

The girl nodded, "same" she looked down at her feet, "about this morning; i shouldn't have done that".

Draco nodded taking a step closer to her, "It's fine you were…"

"upset," she finished, looking up at him; despite it all, unable to deny to herself just how handsome he was.

"Exactly," he concluded, "nothing but a mere fluke". He put his hand on her shoulder, reassuringly, that's_ all_ his hand was there for.

She tried to remain nonchalant at his touch, "I'm glad that's…"

"…sorted." He finished for her.

Right before he reclaimed her lips.

* * *

**A/N: You will all find out who Ginny likes shortly. I didn't just forget to give a name out of shear incompetence. Though perhaps you can all guess who it is.**

**I tried to make this chapter a bit longer than usual. **

**Hopefully the next chapter will be up shortly! **

**Thanks for reading. All opinions welcome.**


End file.
